Restart
by River.Run.Red
Summary: Everything he ever cared for is gone all because he made the wrong choice and trusted the wrong people. But at the last moment of his life, Nightwing was granted a chance to go back to where it all started. Now, again living under the name Robin, can he change the tragic fate that will befall them all? (Rob/Rae) (Dark Robin) - *NOT UPDATE, JUST AN AUTHOR NOTE*! (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note**: After months and months of considering, I have finally decided to write a long RobRae fanfic! This idea has been rooting in my mind for a while actually, but I kept on hesitating. Why? Well, first reason: I'm not really good at writing romance. One shot? Okay since it isn't really that hard. But a real, long fic? Nuh-uh, I don't think so. There's just too much to take care of! How to develop the feelings, how to capture the characters' emotions, how to make sure they stay in character throughout the fic, ughh, the list goes on and on! Second reason: I'm lazy and arbitrary as Hell! Like I can just drop the entire fic in two chapters just because I have got a better idea, or just don't feel like continue it. So, OS and simple-plot fics seemed like pretty good choices for me.

But I really want to write this, really, really want! And I also want to get out of my comfort zone for once, see how things finally go.

**Summary: **Everything important to him had crumbled down, just because he chose to trust the wrong people at the wrong timing. Misguided and fooled by the lies surrounded him and everything he always upheld, he pushed those that always stood by him to their tragic fates. Now, after many years, Nightwing finally managed to triumph over his enemies, but with a heavy price. The strength he obtained had given those that turned their back against him what they deserved, but still couldn't return what he had lost.

At his most desperate moment, Nightwing was given a chance to return to the moment when everything started falling apart. Could he rewrite the bloody and horrible fate that awaited them all?

Wow, that summary ended up much cornier than I first anticipated.

Anyway, let's get on with the story!

**Chapter 1**

_SMACK!_

Within a small chamber slightly illuminated by the dim white light given off of the bulb hanging from the ceiling, the sound of one's fist slammed against a hard object loudly emitted. It was soon followed by the noises of two hard objects colliding into each other, and then a low grunt of pain.

On the ground, tied into a chair with chains filled with strange symbols, was a man. Or at least it used to be a man. All of his limbs had been violently twisted around that white bones were piercing out from where the knuckles should be. His nails had long been pulled off and blood was still oozing out of the opened wounds. It appeared that somebody had mercilessly crushed them over and over even when the nails were no longer there. His face was no longer human-like, in fact, none could tell whether he was once human or not. His nose had been savagely torn off, the same to his lips and ears. Bruises and cuts of all size sprawled out on the amount of skin that was still attached. Layers of fresh blood dyed on top layers of old blood, red on top of usually-looking brown, giving off a foul, suffocating smell, as if to kill the breath of anyone that dared to set foot here.

"You think this will actually change anything?" He let out a rough chuckle, grimacing as his body couldn't take just a small action and sent agony all over himself: "You lost. We won. Can't you see what you always try to protect is already crumble at our feet? We have what we want. All these futile efforts will just…"

His line was cut clean off as a kick slammed right into his stomach, making him double over and spat out a mouthful of blood. Still, the twisted grin hadn't gone yet. The man struggled to pick his head up and stare at his attacker with some difficulties – his face was so damaged that it made his vision blurred. As though the kick from before was nothing, he laughed before going on with his speed:

"You're fucking angry? You're fucking angry that I'm right, that you have lost? That you couldn't save or protect a fucking soul. That you failed to save even your stupid, worthless little frie…"

Something metallic collided into the mess of flesh and blood that used to be his left cheek, and the man grunted in pain as his head was forcefully whipped aside.

While he was panting and grunting in utter agony on the filthy floor, a lone figure crouched next to him, casting a shadow all over his pathetic state in a threating manner. But again, the man showed no trait of fear or fright, even though his entire body was screaming in pain, and every movement resulted in his flesh and bones being torn apart even more, he still managed to somewhat gather his strength and flashed a twisted grin at his attacker.

A set of cold, almost vicious eyes stared back at him, bored into his soul, pierced into the deepest part of him. The vibrant blue filled those orbs were as calm as the ocean surface. Still, he could see it clearly, underneath that seemingly serene semblance, a raging tidal wave was rising, and soon, it would swallow him whole.

Still, that didn't invoke even just a bit of fear inside him. It was over now. Nothing could be changed. Winner took all. His side had won, and it was all that mattered. Only the satisfaction that thought brought was enough to ease his throbbing body and drew a smirk on his beaten face.

"Accept it. You lost. Those foolish beloved friends of yours are gone now. And there isn't a single thing you can do to… AH!"

He only saw a flash of metal struck across his face, and then a wave of unbearable pain almost paralyzed his jaw. Blood spilled from his tattered lips to the ground, and a glance at his attacker told him what just happened:

One of his teeth had been ripped clean out!

"One more word, and you'll get to see your tongue coming off." A bone-chilling voice made its way to his ears, and the man couldn't help but feeling his skin crawl apprehensively. But he pressed on. He would die anyway. And unlike a certain person, he had no regret!

"You're just fucking angry because I'm speaking the fucking truth. You chose to trust us, remember? That little sense of justice of yours chose to have faith in us! We even had to be grateful to you. Had it not been for your choice, we wouldn't have claimed our triumph. Our first steps would have failed. We owned it all to you!"

A fist collided into his cheek, but he didn't stop.

"Your world is torn apart, your allies are all dead now. You have fallen! Just struggle all you want, deny it all you want, but you can't change anything."

A kick, then another punch, followed by a hook right into his head. Blood filled his mouth with a bitter, foul taste, but he went on.

"And now you are taking it all on me? While you're the reason why it all happened? How could you forget that easily? Even I could remember as clearly as daylight how everything started!"

"Or could it be…" A vile glint suddenly flashed across the man's narrowed eyes, and he let out a burst of chuckle: "That you're mad because of that little slut?"

The vibrant blue orbs facing his pathetic state suddenly widened. For a split second, his attacker stood there, dumbfounded as though having been struck across the face with a powerful blow. Then, the almost placid stare vanished from his feature. He didn't bother covering up his rage anymore. The flame of fury set his body afire, overwhelming his other senses, unleashing the darkest demon within him. With an almost inhuman roar, he threw himself into the tattered figure right in front of him, slamming that impotent body down onto the floor with all he got. A sickening sound of bones cracking reverberated around the small room, but neither of them cared. Despite his life being on the line, the beaten man continued laughing like a maniac, ignoring the rain of fists that coming down onto his form nonstop.

"Yeah, that little slut. I remembered her. We all remembered her. She serviced us very well, better than all the whores we had in fact. I can still recall her screams and her taste now… Very special…"

"She was a fierce one, almost fucking bit a grown man's artery cleaned off. That was so fucking messy. But we broke her into shape. We educated her well. We gave that depraved slut so much pleasure that she even started begging for more!"

"And we owned this to you, again! If you didn't decide to give up on her and thought of her as the bad guy as we planned, such a precious pearl wouldn't fall into our hands."

"Did she serve you well? Did she make you so satisfied that you couldn't stand up? You will have to thank us for that!"

He couldn't utter any word. Whatever he wanted to howl out was forcefully halted at the tip of his tongue by a steeled grip around his neck. Those wiry fingers kept tightening, and tightening, and tightening, slowly cutting out his air supply. Gasping for oxygen, the man looked up at his assaulter, but still managed to crack his lips into a painful yet satisfied smirk:

"You… cannot… change anything… Even when… you try to… put on a new… face. Their blood… is on your hands… Her blood… is on your… hands…"

Vicious blue eyes shot back at him, as his assaulter's feature began twisting in unbearable rage. The grip on his neck was blocking his air pipe, and he felt his vision swayed as no oxygen could get into his lungs. But this didn't matter at all. He might die here, he might lose this battle, but he had already won the war.

"Killing… me… won't change anything… It won't bring… them back… You lost…"

He locked his eyes with the furious blue orbs, and with his all the strength left within him, the man gnashed his teeth together, enunciating each word as if wanting them to etch into his opponent's mind forever.

"You lost… Accept it… Richard Grayson… You lost…"

oOo

Nightwing didn't leave from his spot. He just sat there, staring at the already lifeless body on the ground. The fury dominated his entire being didn't cease just a bit, even when his nemesis had already been a mess of unidentified flesh. It was still boiling, and boiling, and boiling, immersing himself in an inescapable scorching flame.

But he didn't even know who he was angry with anymore.

With the one that destroyed what he tried to protect?

Or simply with himself?

He slowly stood up and made his way out of the suffocating chamber reeking of foul blood, didn't bother to cast a single glance at the body left on the ground. But that taunting smile still lingered in his mind, circling him, haunting him like a persistent ghost, reminding him of what he always tried to forget.

Nightwing stopped at he reached another door at the end of the corridor. Exhaustedly, he leaned his forehead against it and shut his eyes, feeling his headache grew as his mind became a turmoil. He thought he had already forgotten all of it. But it was still there, lurking around corners of his head, waiting for chances to resurface and swallowed him in guilt and grief.

Everything started crumbling down five years ago, or was it six, or seven? He didn't know, he had lost count along the way.

Someone important to him, someone he cared about, someone really closed to him was accused of a crime, a horrible crime. She stated that she never did it, that she didn't know anything. But the evidences were all against her. There were even footage, and witnesses, and testimonies, claiming that she was behind everything.

That was a true crisis for them, an intense one. Nobody wanted to believe that she did such a thing, but everything they got proved otherwise. They tried to help her, they did their best. He spent endless nights without sleep trying to clear her name. Still, the more they dug in, the worse it got for her.

She claimed that she was innocent, but they couldn't believe her. Even if they wanted, how could they when everything was against her? They were the protectors of justice, they had to stand up for justice. They had to do everything they got to defend the laws and keep the people safe. She might be their friends, but she was proven to be a criminal, so what choice did they have?

Back there, he was just a boy who desperately wanted to be a hero, to make sure the line between evil and good was clear, and to ensure that everything he fought to protect was safe and sound. Back there, he only thought of justice, and what he would become without it, what the world would become without it, so he tried to defend it with all cost, devoting his life to it at all cost.

He even believed that it was his purpose of life, that he would become nothing with it.

How foolish he was back there…

Nightwing banged his head again the door with an unbelievable thought. It hurt like Hell, maybe he had even bled, but he didn't care. It was all over now. If he had a chance to retake that decision, he would never…

But unfortunately, it was just a wish. This was the reality he had to face, no matter how harsh it had become.

He could still recall the last conversation he had with her back there, in the interrogation room. He wasn't angry at her, he was disappointed, so disappointed. A part of him still wanted to trust her, but justice had proved that she was guilty, so what could he do now?

She remained silent the whole time, and he was the only one doing the talking. Back there, he didn't know why he came to see her, he just knew that he had to, that he wanted to.

"_You should just tell them the truth, that'll make it easier."_

"_I don't know why you did it, but I'll try to get you the lightest sentence."_

"_Take care."_

She only spoke once, as he was walking out of the room.

"_I didn't do it. Do you trust me?"_

And he, being as heroic and supportive to justice as he was, replied her with one single thing:

"_I only trust what's right."_

He was there as she was taken away. They said that she couldn't be kept here, that she was too dangerous, and had to be moved to another prison with better security. He stood in the crowd and watched as she was being escorted into the transport vehicle, with her hands and foot in shackles, and some device over her head. He didn't get to see her face, but somehow, that was so relieving. He didn't know how he would react if he saw her.

As he watched the car took her away, it seemed that some part of him was slowly being pulled away too, and he couldn't do anything but watch in silence.

Their lives after her department were nothing different from Hell itself. Nobody could laugh or say anything positive anymore. They worked, and they trained, and they ate, and they slept like real machines. They rarely spoke to the others, they didn't dare to anyway. They all felt somewhat responsible for her case. They all felt they were at fault with the others. They all felt that if they had worked harder, maybe something would have changed.

He watched as their days passed by, uneventful and almost lifeless. But what could he possibly do? They didn't have any other choice. They had to protect justice. And she was a criminal. So they had to cast her away, just like what they did to the villains they fought every day.

Things remained that way for a while, and then, all Hell broke loose!

The vicious attacks into the city suddenly increased with no sign of stopping. They couldn't carry on defending the citizens anymore. With her gone, it got so hard for them to triumph over their enemies. Their comrades from all over the world couldn't help, because they were in the same situation too.

Eventually, they were heavily wounded, and were forced to hide themselves behind the unbreakable walls of their Tower for recovery. Without her, their injuries had to heal on their own, they couldn't enter any battle. Still, the war outside went on.

They had thought they it would be okay, that the people would understand, that they had witnessed these injuries, that they would still have faith in them and the justice they always tried to uphold, and that they would return to the battle once they have regain their strength.

But apparently, they were wrong.

Someone knocked on the Tower's door that night, sounding so frightened and urgent. They thought that was just a poor citizen being in danger. So, being the protector of peace and justice, despite their injuries, they went and opened the door.

Immediately, a crowd burst into their home. They still remembered those faces: the citizens that they always protected with all their hearts. But what happened next was something none of them could ever imagine.

Their beloved citizens attacked them!

In their current state, they couldn't fight back even when they wanted to. With utter shock and confusion, they were all tied and forced to kneel on the ground. Then, somebody advanced them, a face that they knew so well:

The one that stood on the side of justice just like them, and was also the one that insisted that she was a criminal.

But this time, there was nothing friendly or genial in his eyes, only a freezing cold remained there. His lips twitched upward in a vile way as he looked down at them and laughed at their stunned expression.

He stated that they were a bunch of fools.

He stated that he had always despised them, hated them, loathed them from his guts.

He stated that his man were behind everything, and they wanted to get rid of all the heroes, so they could take down the city and had everybody bowed down on their knees.

Never had they been that furious. They screamed and shouted and yelled at him until their throats went dry. They called out for the citizens for support, thinking that they would stand on their sides once knowing these bastards' true intentions. They believed that those innocent citizens were tricked into doing this, that they would never side with the dark side, that they would stand up for their heroes no matter what.

_Again, they were wrong!_

"_You expect us to help you? Your duty is to keep us safe and you failed at that! We even paid for you to live here and this was how you treated us?"_

"_Look what have become of me. I lost my house, my car, my company, just because you couldn't do your job right!"_

"_And you can even call yourselves heroes?"_

"_Look at you! All safe and warm in here. Do you have any fucking idea what we must go through outside?"_

"_I can't believe I even support you! A bunch of selfish liars! Fancy promises for what when you only save your asses when it comes to the worse?"_

"_Useless!"_

"_We're here because we're sick of your hypocrites!"_

Useless? Them?

At the moment, he was so shocked that he couldn't say anything. Why were them even bandaged and wounded like this? Wasn't that to save those people's life? Why must they fight so hard that they couldn't even stand? Wasn't that to continue protecting lives? They were here because of who? Wasn't that because they wanted to get better and return to protect justice, protect innocent lives?

Did they ever fail before? Did they even utter a single complain? They put their life in the line, even willing to sacrifice themselves so that everyone could lead a peaceful life. They never asked for gratefulness, or a single thank you, because that was the job of heroes.

And now, after all the times being saved, those people came and bombarded them with this?

Was this… the justice and innocence they fought so hard to defend?

He didn't even know what happen next. So many thoughts had occupied his mind by then. But by the time he came to his sense, all of his friends were gone, gone by the hands of the people they protected every day.

His emotions were so chaotic that he felt like he was on the verge of collapsing.

Then, that very man came to him and kneeled down by his side, right when he was about to have a mental breakdown.

"_I have a something you'd like here. We were kind of closed so it'll be rather rude to let you go without any farewell gift, right?"_

He saw photos being dropped right before his eyes. And instantly, his breath was caught in his throat. That was… _her_.

Being tortured. Being ravished. Being treated like an animal. Being put through all the worst things on the world.

"_A cute one, isn't it? Thank you for giving such a lovely thing right into our hands. We had a really good time together, you see."_

"_Don't send me that look. I let you see your little friend for the last time. Be grateful. Oh, and there's something you'll enjoy…"_

He could never forget the words that came next, never, ever, ever forgot.

"_You were right, she was innocent. We set her up."_

And that was when he snapped. Burning wrath scorched through his flesh, and his mind was washed away in a blind fury. But with who? He didn't know. Probably with the bastards that mistreated her, with the ungrateful citizens, or perhaps with him for choosing to have faith in the wrong person in the first place.

He just knew that he had thrashed his way out of the ropes secured him, and broke through the crowd with all he got. He didn't even hold back, or tried to calm down. He had lost everything, his friends, his faith, his family, all he wanted to protected, everything. He didn't even care whether he killed anyone on his way. He just kept on running until he reached the ocean surrounding their home and flung himself into it.

At that time, he just wanted to let the water swallowed him whole and took him to somewhere far, far away. Everything was painful to recall. His belief was shattered, his friends were dead, the ones he thought was on his side betrayed him at the most unexpected moment. And the girl he thought to have turned back on him turned out to be the true victim. The thought of what she must go through pained him more than he could take on. Back there, if only he could trust her…

He didn't expect to be able to wake up, let alone in _her_ arms of all people.

He was beyond happy when seeing her. But she was no longer the strong, brave, unbreakable girl who fought side by side with him in battles. Her look was even worse than he could have imagined. She had grown paler, and slimmer, he could even see her cheekbones had gone hollow and her skin stretched uncomfortably over her white knuckles. Her feature had always been cold and distant, but never this austere and grim. The light seemed to have already died from her eyes, leaving nothing but pure darkness behind.

Seeing her like this sent him in an ocean of guilt and lament. His heart sank to his stomach as he took in for the first time what she had been put through. He was the one who pushed her into that Hell. If only he paid more attention and realized something was off, if only he wasn't all that blinded, if only he hadn't been fooled by all those lies…

He didn't bother to ask her how she managed to break free, or how she knew he was in danger. He just simply sprang up from his spot like a spring having been released from massive pressure and brought her into his arms. He didn't know what to say. But he knew that he would never let her go again. It was like he had finally found the light after months of living in the darkness.

That was when he realized he had never wanted her to leave, that he had wanted to stay by her side and never let any harm come her way. But back there, his sense of justice and his heroic nature had built up a wall between them. She had been proven to be a criminal, so despite how much it hurt, he had decided to let go, because it was his mission and duty as a hero.

That was when he realized she meant to him more than anything on the world.

That was when he realized that he _loved_ her.

He took her away from the city that day, away from the Hell they once thought to be their peaceful home. She never said anything, just quietly followed him, like she always did before this disaster stroke. It pained him even more. She always trusted him, always had faith in him no matter what. And looked what he did to her.

A lot of things had changed since that day. Their world had changed, their belief had crumbled, their justice turned its back on them, and killed everybody important to them on the way.

And he had changed too.

That fateful day had ripped a whole part of him cleaned off. He couldn't see things the old way anymore. He couldn't see justice the old way anymore. Memories of how his friends suffered a painful death at the hands of those they always defended always never stopped haunting his mind. Those horrifying images lingered in every corner of his head, he couldn't push them out. The last moment of his friends as their bodies broke apart woke him up every night, screaming and crying as grief overwhelmed his other senses.

He had always sworn to protect justice, protect the citizens, protect the innocence. Wasn't it the right thing to do? Then why did things come down to this?

During those horrid nights, as he wished for nothing but to lie down and never awake again, she was the only one that stayed by his side. Despite all he put her through, despite the fact that he had turned back on her, she never left no matter what.

From then on, he had promised to both her and himself that he would never betray her, that he would take care of her, that he would try to mend what have been broken no matter how hard it was.

They stayed together for quite a long time, fleeing from one city to another, never truly stopped at one place. He didn't feel like making another home. He had one, but it was forcefully taken away from him. Now, all that left of that home was her.

They grew closer, and closer, and closer as time passed by. He never truly said he loved her, and neither did she. But what went on between them was more than enough to tell each other how they truly felt. They shared the same bed, the same meal, they did almost everything together. The nightmares still plagued his dreams, his friends' deaths and the betrayal of those he had thought to be on his side never stopped following him. But she was always there to ease his troubled heart.

As he hugged her, as she huddled closer to him, as her face pressed against his heart and her breaths warmed his chest, a painful knot deep inside him somewhat entangled itself. At least, he was still able to protect her.

But that beautiful life soon shattered right in front of his very eyes.

The ones destroying his life had caught up to them and lured her out, using the same trick that he fell for on that fateful night. She must have been on guard, but the sight that somebody suffering as she was before have moved her.

By the time he found her, she could no longer walk, or move, or see, or use her power. She was there, bare and bruised and bleeding on the ground. He had almost fallen to his knees. As his trembling arms pulled her into his protective embrace, she had lifted her empty eye sockets and weakly whispered his name in such a broken voice that almost tore his heart into pieces.

He could never understand. Why her? Why them? What did they ever do? They always tried to protect the good and fight against the evil. They always stood up for the right. They kept everyone safe and sound and never asked for anything in return. Wasn't that enough to get a happy ending?

Where did they go wrong?

He tried to protect justice, to uphold it at all cost. He spent almost his entire life pursuing criminals and locked them behind bars. He could stay up all night and not eat a single thing until he was sure that the good people he defended sleep tight under their warm blankets.

He protected them all, and yet, they turned on him.

His friends never stopped trying to defend them, and yet, they're killed by those they always tried to help.

She was the most innocence one among them, and yet she had to go through the worst.

He had promised that he would protect her, that he would help her through everything, that he would someday bring back her smile. And now, she was here, bleeding and tattered, limped in his arms, her breaths could die out in an instance.

Was this what justice repaid those who tried to uphold it? With deaths and misery and pain? While those who always tried to take it down ended up having the last laugh? The heroes became forgotten, and the villains got the throne? Was it how thing supposed to be?

He saved people, but in the end, it was those people that pushed him into this Hell.

He and his friends risked his life for the city, but in the end, the city soon forgot them all, and stamped on them as if all their efforts from before were nothing.

She did nothing wrong, she even tried her best to protect them even after everything she had gone through, and now she was dying in his arms.

He used to feel sorry that he couldn't do more and bring justice the true peace it deserved. Even if the citizens made any mistake, he would be more than happy to go and fix it for them. And then what? They killed his friends, destroyed his home, dragging the girl he loved through Hell.

He never asked for gratefulness. He just hoped that they would always support him and his team no matter what.

But did anyone bothered to take his side when his life was on the line? Nobody!

He had gripped her closer to his chest and took off running. He dashed out of the scene, feeling his heart run colder and colder as her breaths got weaker and weaker. That day, some parts of him began collapsing, as something else took over their places.

Nightwing let out a breathy, bitter chuckle as everything started unfolding inside his mind. His prior life passed by before his very eyes as a fast-forward movie, went on and on, until it reached the recent time.

After that incident, there wasn't much to talk about. He had gone after those that destroyed their life, and made them pay one by one. But he could never be satisfied, he had thought that it was because he didn't manage to kill them all, but it wasn't.

That bastard was the last of them, but even when he snapped his neck, he couldn't feel any better.

Maybe that bastard was right after all. They had won, and he had lost. Nothing could be changed, no matter how hard he tried.

Nightwing slumped his shoulders as a heavy sigh filled with lament and regret made its way out of his lips. What had been taken from him couldn't return.

If only he had realized that their justice was just a façade, none of this would have happened! If only he was able to see through all those lies, none of this would have happened! His vibrant blue eyes ran cold as he slammed a furious fist against the metal surface of the door.

But time wouldn't return. What had been done could not be undone. What he had lost would be lost, forever.

He shook his head with a bitter chuckle and turned the knob, walking into a small yet bright room.

A young girl was sitting on the single bed locating at the window, quietly staring outside. Her feature seemed relaxing, as her long violet hair slightly swayed in the slight breezes passing through the opened glass frame.

Nightwing's eyes softened as a small smile twitched the corner of his lips upward. He made his way to her side, and she turned back upon hearing his footsteps.

"Richard?"

A small voice full of wonder escaped her pale lips as she instinctively turned her head around, trying to locate where he was. He had been seeing this quite often ever since he managed to bring her back from the Death, but it always pained him to look at her in such a state. Bandage wrapped around her head, dragging a long, white strip over where her eyes used to be. She could no longer see anything now. And he couldn't help but feeling guilty.

"Yeah, Raven. I'm here." He reached her side and bent down to press a kiss to the top of her head. Sitting down on her bed, he pulled the girl into his lap, letting his large hand stroke her hair. Raven gently leaned her head onto his chest, and he wrapped one arm around her waist to secure her there. The sight of her being so helpless always made his heart plummet to his stomach. She was once the strongest, most powerful girl he used to know. But now, she was a broken, tattered, fragile girl who had to permanently stay on her bed.

"Why didn't you leave? I thought that you had already left."

"Why're you keeping asking me this?" Nightwing tucked Raven's head under his chin as he cupped one side of her face. Did she truly think she was a burden to him, that he only protected her because he felt guilty? Ever since that day, it seemed that she was expecting that he would take his department soon. He couldn't get it. What made she think that he would leave her here alone?

"You can still have a life, Richard. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I've been through worse. Just go on and live as you want."

"Raven." The blue-eyed man sighed heavily as he patted her head reassuringly: "You're all I have now. I want to protect you. I want to take care of you. Please just stop thinking that I do all of this out of pity." Inching closer, he pressed his lips to her cold ones. The kiss wasn't passionate, wasn't intense or deep. It was just a short, light kiss, as his lips only ghosted on hers for a while. They broke apart, and he patted her head gently, moving his gaze outside of the window.

The world was slowly crumbling down. Heroes had no place on this planet now. He had lost contact with his comrades, even his mentor. Even when he tried to reassure himself that they were okay, his own hunch told something different, and his hunch had never gone wrong before.

"You can still save…"

"Raven." Nightwing cut her off: "You know I don't want to walk down on that path ever again. Just look where it got us. Look what it did to…"

He forced the rest of the line back into his throat, didn't want to trouble her even further. She had had enough pains and problems to deal with on her own. Even though he tried to help her cope with them, there was some parts of her that he couldn't reach. He wasn't in her state, he couldn't possibly understand what she went through every day.

So he remained silent, and continuing rubbing the girl's back as he stared out at the window. The sun was setting, it would get dark soon. The nightmares would soon return to him, one by one, two by two.

His enemies were gone now, dead by his hands. And still, he couldn't change anything.

Had it not been for her, he would have…

"Richard, I want to die."

His eyes widened as he looked down at Raven. The girl was staring up at him even though she couldn't see anything. Her lips slightly parted, and to his utter shock, she repeated the cold words:

"I want to die."

"What? But… why…"

"You have already seen it for yourself." Raven looked at him, and her lips formed a bitter, melancholy smile: "I can't do anything right now. Even if it's just something simple as eating or bathing. I can only sit here, and sit here, and sit here for the rest of my life." Her voice suddenly broke as she sobbed, each words like a sharp needle to his heart: "It hurt. I don't want to continue, Richard. I don't want to go on living anymore. I thought of biting my tongue off, but you keep coming back, every single day, you keep coming back. I don't want to make you sad. You have already suffered enough"

She sniffled, stopping for a while to somewhat recompose herself. Then, she spoke to him, in the calmest way possible that sent shock all over his body:

"But I can't go on enduring this, Richard. So I want you to leave. I'll bite my tongue off tonight. If you don't want to see it, leave while you still can."

Each word was as clear as crystal. She didn't even hesitate as she told him. This life, she had truly had enough of it.

She had had enough of the pains and the misery always ate her from inside out.

In that case…

"I won't leave you, Raven." He whispered to her, as softly as he could. Before the violet-haired girl could say anything, he had already scooped her into his arms. He stood up on the bed, the mattress dipped under his steps as he faced the window and the street beneath.

"We'll go together." He kissed her head, gently murmuring into her ears: "I have nothing left to fight for anymore."

The girl seemed surprised for a while, but then a bright smile shone on her pale lips as she slowly nodded her head. She had never showed such a happy smile before. Maybe to her, death had already become somewhere much more peaceful. He thought bitterly as he pressed his chin on top of her head, and Raven buried her face in the crook of his neck.

Hugging her tightly, Nightwing leaned forward, and they both fell out of the opened window, plummeting toward the hard ground below.

If he could go back in time, he wouldn't be a hero anymore. He wouldn't play the good guy anymore. He would protect what was truly precious to him with all cost.

He would get rid of those putting his loved ones in harm by all means.

And he would definitely make up for her…

The sound of something hard hit the ground echoed throughout the quiet area, and then, only silence was left.

The night fell, and soon swallowed everything in its endless darkness…

**Author's note: **Oh my God! I made it, I made the first chapter! Yes, yes, yes, yes!

I know that it sounds so tragic, but trust me, the story is completely not. Everything will eventually get better and better, and you will soon get to see some intense actions.

And don't forget that this is a Dark Robin fanfic where he gets a chance to start everything from the start with M rate. Yeah, you got what I mean! Hot RobRae scenes is gonna come along, so make sure to stick around.

Love you!

Remember to leave a review if you like this idea.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note**: Yayyyy, here's your chapter 2! I'm glad I was able to post it in time. I have made it my goal to release at least one chapter a week, and I intend to stick with it by all cost!

… Or until I run out of idea, or lose motivation, or too lazy to lift my fingers…

Well, I'll try my best to maintain my verve. But if any of the above happens, please bear with me. :P

Anyway, enough with my rambling, let's get on with the story!

**Disclaimer**: Like usual, I don't own the Teen Titans. If it were otherwise, the show wouldn't remain that nice and friendly.

**Chapter 2**

He felt himself falling from great high. The light began fading from his sight, before getting swallowed whole in utter darkness. His body plummeted into that seemingly endless unlit ocean like a small prey falling into the ravenous mouth of a predator. He didn't know what was lurking inside this pitch-black pit, or what was awaiting him at the bottom of it. But frankly, he didn't care.

He wasn't tired, he wasn't exhausted, or drained, or fatigued, but he didn't make any attempt to struggle or to swim to the surface.

What was the point of that, anyway?

Everything important to him had all gone, and there was nothing he could do to bring him back.

Did he want such an ending like this? Of course, he didn't want, he never wanted. But what was the point of continuing living on without a single purpose? What was the point of keeping on fighting when all he ever wanted to fight for had been reduced into ash?

He truly regretted all of his foolish decisions now. But it was already too late…

Memories from before passed by his eyes, the smiling, cheerful faces of his friends, the peaceful yet happy day of staying with them, the never-ending bickers over all kinds of things that always stirred up the atmosphere of their home, they all flew through his eyes in a flash. He tried to grab them, at least one, but they had all vanished into the darkness before he could do anything.

The torturous flood of painful images went on, and on, and on, clearly visible even though there was no light here. And then, all of sudden, they all stopped, as his fall was pulled into a halt.

Right on cue, his large, wiry fingers were intertwined with somebody else's. His eyes were clenched, but he didn't need his vision to tell whose. This tender touch, these slim, almost petite fingers, he had already been so familiar with them.

"Raven!"

Her name spilled from his lips as his own hand hastily formed a strong grip around her little ones. He tried to open his eyes, desperately wanting to see the girl he cared about more than anything else. But he couldn't. It seemed that an invisible force was pushing his eyelids down and kept them in place.

"Richard, this was supposed to be my chance." Her voice slipped into his ears, as monotone as he recalled. But he could still pick up a trace of sorrow mingled between each word. "But… if anyone of us deserves to lead a new life, to start everything from all over again, it would be you."

And he was falling again, with such an unbelievable speed that his skin felt as if it was about to tear up. Still, in the distance, he could still make out her voice even though the fall had somewhat numbed his ears.

"This is my last gift to you, Richard. Use it well."

"Goodbye, and take care."

Her voice slowly grew faint as the last words seemed to have dissipated in thin air, like the darkness had finally devoured her whole. Panic overwhelmed his heart as fear took over his body. Before he even realized, his eyes had flew wide opened and his arm stretched out completely as though to somehow grab her and pulled her back to him.

He had expected his vision to be drowned in pure darkness like before. However, as contrary to his thought, a lucid white light pierce through his sight, so vivid that his eyes started aching. Grimacing, he narrowed them, trying to adjust to the unpredicted situation.

All the shocks he had went through in his rough life combine couldn't even compare to what spread on his face the moment he opened his eyes and properly took in his surroundings.

He was currently sprawling on the tiled floor of a bathroom. From the look of everything from his view, he must be near the entrance. But that was not the thing that struck him dumfounded. With his eyes widened and his mouth agape in pure stupefaction, he found himself staring at the bathtub with pink curtain fell down all over it, which made it completely stand out from the black and white shade of the room.

That was an unusual combination, if not utterly weird and almost hurt the eyes to look at. He remembered the heated arguments that went on between them as they tried to persuade the bubbly alien to pick something that went well with the others, only to give up in defeat as she started delivering a speech about her own customs with all kinds of words cannot be found in any human dictionary.

He switched his gaze to the mirror, where a range of toothbrushes lied in neat arrangement. And his breath came out in a shaky gasp as he realized the shape and color of each. Red was his, green was Beast Boy's, blue was Cyborg's, pink belong to Starfie, and the purple on the corner was Raven's.

What was this supposed to mean?

Wasn't he died already?

Weren't they all gone already?

How did he end up here after falling down from a building? Was this just a vision before death truly took him?

He tried to sit up straight, only to groan in pain as a wave of agony shot through his head. But it didn't feel like the type of unbearable anguish one had to go through after falling from great high. It felt more like a bump after falling and hit your head against the floor.

Perplexed and confused with all kinds of questions swarming in his head, he raised a gloved hand, slightly rubbing the back of his head, trying to ease the throbbing ache lingered there.

Wait, something wasn't right.

Glove?

He had stopped wearing gloves for ages!

A thought ran through his head, something that was so far-fetched and surreal that it seemed like nothing but a delusion. But he still rushed over the mirror only a few steps a way to take a good look at himself. And had it not been for his hands gripping the sink underneath so tightly, the utter shock overtaken his head might have already turned his feet into jelly and knocked him on the floor again.

Reflected in the glass of the mirror, as clear as daily, was a boy in a colorful uniform with red shirt, green pants, and a black cape. The domino masks that he had long casted aside were encompassing his vibrant blue eyes again. And the jet-black hair that had already reached his back was now neatly shaped into spikes.

He was looking at Robin – the identity he deserted when that fateful day struck.

"H…How?" Nightwing, now again Robin, couldn't help but letting out a gasp filled with astonishment, his fingers shook in disbelief as he touched his much younger face. It felt so… real… Nothing alike a dream at the dying moment at all… And obviously not a vague vision before stepping through the line between life and death.

Did… did he actually return in time?

But… how…how could that be? It didn't make any sense now…

It wasn't that he didn't want to go back and repair everything, but… This just simply… unbelievable! This wasn't a movie or comic.

Suddenly, something clicked in his mind. Raven… She had told him that this was a chance for him to go back, for him to lead a new life… He could still remember the warmth of her touch as she grasped his hand…

Raven… Did she truly bring him back here?

A sharp knock on the door brought Robin back to reality. He wiped his head there, still couldn't think straight due to all the entwined knots between his trains of thoughts. Then, from outside of the door came voices that he never thought he could hear again.

"Friend Robin, are you the okay? You have locked yourself inside the room of bathing for a long while."

"Dude, it has been like 30 minutes. You're sure you're okay in there?"

"C'mon, just let him be. It isn't exactly an easy time for him. Maybe the guy just need some time alone."

_No way…_

Before he even realized it, Robin had already sprung toward the door. His heart was slamming frantically against his ribcage like thunder. Something inside him, a part that he thought to have crumbled down long ago, suddenly stirred and awoke, then a strange state of agitation began setting in within the deepest part of him. His fingers hastily fumbled with the knob, and then eventually managed to jerk the door opened.

Standing before his very eyes, right in the flesh, were three members of his team, all alive and apparently in good shapes. They sent him looks of worry, obviously startled by the total shock and disbelief spreading all over his face. But he didn't care. They were here, right here. His friends, his family was still alive. They were alive, they were in no harm. They were standing right before him now, not lying on the floor in their own pools of blood…

Robin couldn't believe in what he saw anymore. He blinked a few times, as if to make sure that none of this was a just mere illusion. With a shaky breath, his dry lips parted as the words finally managed to make their ways out.

"Starfire? Cyborg? Beast Boy? You're all… okay?"

The three Titans exchanged a look of confusion mingling with concern, obviously puzzled by his unusual questions.

"Yeah, we're fine. But why…?"

That was all they managed to say before gasping in pure surprise as something they never expected to happen even in their dreams took place. Their stoic, serious, calm-and-collected leader suddenly dashed forward and wrapped his arms around them! Of course he couldn't fully embrace three people at the same time, but they still found themselves frozen in the spot.

"Dude… What's with this? You're starting to freak me out!"

"Yes, friend Robin. What is the meaning of this sudden behavior?"

Robin knew he was going out of character, but he didn't care. This was the first time he got to see his friends alive and breathing after God knew how long. And this wasn't an illusion, or a trick of his mind. They were here, and they were real. Robin couldn't help but feeling a big smile brighten the lower half of his face as solace and pure bliss began setting in him.

He still didn't truly get his finger on how he managed to get back here. But that didn't matter anymore.

"N… nothing, I'm just glad to see that you're still all right." He released his friends, his words came out in a whisper as he was still overwhelmed by joy. Everything important to him was here right before his eyes once more…

"What? Of course we're okay! Why're you sounding like something bad was supposed to happen to us?"

Robin heard that, but he didn't bother to answer. His eyes darted around as he tried to search for the last member of their team. Wasn't she supposed to be here with them? Maybe that she was still in her room, she didn't truly like the idea of crowding up anyway.

"Guys, where's Raven?"

The Boy Wonder asked with alacrity, didn't even bother to hide the happiness linger in his voice as his smile turned even brighter. He would get to see her again. He couldn't even believe that he would get to see her again. But his glee soon languished as his masked eyes picked up the grim and somber expression that gradually replaced the daze they were in.

No, no, it couldn't be…

His smile withered as his heart ran cold. All the joy had just bloomed within him died out without a trace.

"Raven… is in police's custody. That case… You know… It didn't go well for her. Man, what's with you today? Why suddenly…"

Cyborg was the one who replied. But his words could only reach that far as another unexpected thing occurred. Robin suddenly went into an exceedingly agitated state and grabbed the half-robot by the neck before pulling him down until their eyes met! Completely caught off guard, the only thing Cyborg was able to do was to let out a loud yelp as he was forced to come to face with his leader.

"Yo, Rob, take it easy! Are you out of your freaking mind?"

"When… No… Today, which date is it?"

Robin was panting heavily as his grip on the half-robot tightened. His voice was so urgent and filled with so much panic that he almost looked like an insane person.

"Whoa, whoa, Robin, chill! Just calm down! What has gotten into you?"

"Which. Date. Is. It? Just tell me already!" Robin gnashed his teeth together as his face inched closer and closer to Cyborg's every second passed by. His noses flared and his expression twisted in intense exasperation as he almost spat out the last words right in the half-robot face. He looked exactly like an animal which was about to tear his prey into pieces! Had it not been for him being used to see that kind of look on the battle, Cyborg might have already been scared senseless by now.

"It's June 14th , for Jesus's sake! Now take your hands off me!"

Cyborg gave a hard shake, and Robin's hands dropped from his neck. The half-robot took a few deep breaths as an attempt to calm himself down before shooting his leader a heated look, obviously ticked off by the Boy Wonder's sudden outburst.

Robin paid no mind to the utter shock filling Beast Boy and Starfire's expression as well as the anger radiating from Cyborg. His mind was so occupying with all kinds of thoughts that he couldn't care about any other thing even if he wanted to. His emotions were so chaotic now, they went from fear to panic, escalating to fright before dropping down to relief, then stood at apprehension for a while before taking on a wild ride again.

If he was still the old Boy Wonder, maybe it would take him a whole hour to fully take in everything and put on a straight face. But he was Nightwing now, intense situations were no longer something strange for him, so it only took him a minute to suppress his uncontrollable mind and regained composure.

"Man, what's the matter with you? Did you fall and bang your head or…"

"Sorry about that. No time to talk right now. I'll be in my office, don't bother me if nothing serious takes place."

Leaving behind a short and sharp line, Robin simply turned and walked away from the trio. His face was blank and void of any emotion. Nobody could have thought that he and the one who caused all the commotion from earlier was the same person!

As their leader turned around a corner at the end of the hallway and disappeared from their sight, the other Titans were left dumbfounded in their spots. They looked at each other, perplexed and disconcerted with what just happened. They knew the team was going through a difficult phrase and he might be pent-up a bit, but they never could have thought that he would throw a tantrum like that.

"Maybe he really fell in the toilet and smashed his head against the floor after all."

Beast Boy whispered, as if trying to lighten the mood. The other two said nothing. They just stood and looked down the hallway in silence even when Robin was no longer there.

They didn't know why, but they could tell that their leader wasn't the same anymore.

The three exchanged a glance of worry and let out a long sigh.

Somehow, they all had a feeling that sooner or later, their life would take a massive turn. But they couldn't tell whether it was for the better or just for the worse.

oOo

The room was the same as what was pulled out from his memory, Robin thought nonchalantly as he darted his eyes around his surroundings. A lot of things about his past had already run vague, but never this T-shaped Tower. Robin's eyesight felt on the familiar desk whose surface was piled on top by so much paper and gadget that it could no longer be seen. The tip of his steeled-soled shoes tapped against the floor, but rather than picking up a metallic sound, all he could hear was papers rustling against each other. The thin line that made of his lips couldn't help but curling upward a bit.

His home. His beloved home. He could finally get to live in his home again.

But that little happy smile soon vanished as all the information he had received began setting in.

Spinning a birdarang between his fingers, Robin leaned his head on the other hand with a lazy guise, watching the red object as it journeyed between his fingers. Still, underneath the mask, his vibrant blue orbs was cold, deadly cold, as if just one look and they could freeze a person right in their spot. A cruel glint glimmered in his glance, vague at first, but got sharper and sharper as he started to finally piece everything in his mind together.

June 14th, huh? So it was two week after Raven was taken away from them and held behind bars. He didn't keep track on the time as those rough days passed by, but never could he forget the day marking the beginning of the devastation which would soon befall them all.

Look like he had returned to his 19-year-old days again.

A wistful glint lingered in his orbs and his lips tightened into a thin line as her last words resounded in his mind, as loud and clearly as though she had just directly whispered them into his ears seconds ago. He didn't truly understand why she could send him back even when her power was stripped from her, or why she could grasp his hand when she could no longer move. But that just wasn't mattered.

All he cared about was that he had been able to come back.

She had given him a chance to return, even when she could take it and lead a beautiful life again. She could easily be the one who fix everything and save them all. Yet, she refused that very opportunity and passed it to him.

She had always like that, always thought of what important to her first before anything else. Back there, she put the city, the team and the heroic duty on top of everything. And when everything had crumbled, when they were the only ones left, when there was nothing forcing her to be the role model anymore, she still refused to act selfish.

Because that was who she was. That was her nature. Despite having been brought up to be distant and reclusive and void up emotion, she was truly good at heart. She might appear to be cold and uncaring, but deep down inside, she was always a compassionate girl who would do everything to keep her loved ones safe.

She had done everything for him.

So, this time, it was his turn to do everything for her. Not just her, there was his team, his friends, his family, he would do everything for them, even if it cost him this very life!

Robin took a glance at the birdarang circling between his thumb and index fingers. The red shade danced on his fingers, over and over and over and over, resembling the color of fresh blood. His masked eyes glued into the scene, never moving from the gadget even just a bit.

He could still remember his vow at the final moment of his last life. And he intended to stick with it no matter what.

All he used to want was to be a hero, to stand tall in front of everyone, to become the good example for every citizen, someone that people would look after, someone that they could trust to keep them safe and sound, and to keep the harm away from them no matter day or night. Back there, his eyes could only see two distinguished color black and white, and definitely no in-between.

But who could have thought that everything he worked so hard to achieve, everything he believed in would turn out to be just a delicate façade that could shatter every moment.

His city resented him, his beloved citizen killed his friends, the ones who were supposed to be on his side looked down on him with a contemptuous grin, slandered and degraded the girl he loved, and pushed them all to Hell.

Somebody used to tell him that human were the most deadliest and most treacherous creatures. One moment they could still smile happily with you, but the next moment they could have already stab you in the back and kick you down on to the ground. Back there, he thought of those words as nothing but nonsense. Just looked at who he worked so hard to protect, looked at the way they respect and admire his team. How could they possibly turn out to be like that?

Apparently, he was wrong. Evil and innocent, one way or another, were all the same. The only difference was that one of them got to live in such good condition that their nature had no chance to come out, while one, on the other hand, was not.

You either died a hero, or lived long enough to see yourself become the villain, never have he thought he would believe in such a thing.

Turn out, in the end, the only ones who were at lost would be those choosing to walk down this heroic path. Maybe there had been somebody like that defending him and his team at their last moment, but then also got taken down by that vicious crowd.

Now that he had seen the truth, and got the chance to restart everything, he wouldn't make that mistake twice!

Anyone who stood by his side, who cared about him, who always supported him, he would protect them all. And as for those who tried to destroy them, he would make them pay. And unlike that boy of integrity he once was, this time, he didn't mind spilling blood!

Robin's mind drifted back to the incidents that would take place after today. His eyes darkened and he took a glance at the clock nearby. It was 9 in the morning. The birdarang in his fingers came to a halt as he pulled himself into a straighter sitting position. If today was 14th, then tomorrow would be the day they transported Raven away…

Not on his watch!

His thoughts started running as he dug through his head for more memories that had long lied locked up in the deepest part of mind. It was about 10:00 pm when she was escorted onto the transport vehicle. This meant he got about a day.

Now, he couldn't just go and get her out. As simple as it may sound, it was just simply too risky and dangerous. Aside from the fact that she had been locked up in the most secure sector, doing that would probably land them in grave danger since the ones framing her must have already seen that coming. They might even look forward to seeing him do so. Maybe they had even set a trap there, he couldn't be so careless, otherwise, they all would be as good as dead.

Robin thought as he walked down the memory lane, trying to spot something useful along the way. Suddenly his eyes widened as he remembered an important detail. The vehicle that they put her in came with a quite distinctive plate number, and he could still recall it even after all these years.

If he went to the police station and secretly fix a mini tracker device onto that vehicle, he would have been able to tail it and get her out with ease!

The Boy Wonder stood up with alacrity, knocking his chair onto the floor with a loud 'Clang' along the way. Paying no mind to it, he hastily dashed toward the door. Time was running out, he couldn't waste it anymore.

If he failed this time, his Raven would again be dragged into that Hell hole, and his team would again be devastated. Torturous memories flashed through his mind, and Robin gnashed his teeth together as fury began building within him. There was no way he let such a thing happen all over again!

This time, he would make sure those bastards get what they deserved.

He would pull them through a fate even worse than Hell itself!

Still, as the door slid opened, Robin found himself face to face with a sullen Starfire who had her fist raised in the air, apparently about to knock on his door. His brows furrowed. Starfire was well-known for bothering him even when he told her not to countless times. But as he remembered, after Raven was taken into police custody, the alien princess had always been brooding over it and locked herself in her room, only came out to grab food or to fight crime, or if one of them appeared to be in danger.

But the alarm didn't even come off, he didn't even hear any scream, and this was no time for breakfast or lunch either.

"Robin, it is the mayor. He wants to speak to us about the case of Raven."

Starfire spoke softly, her eyes flickered as her voice almost cracked as she said the last word. Robin saw it all, and couldn't help but letting out a soft sigh as a stab of sadness pierced through him. The two of them had always been close despite having almost nothing alike. It must be really hard for the bubbly alien to accept that her best friend could no longer return, and had to face a sentence that might last for eternity.

"You're okay?" The question spilled from his lips as he eyed her in a concerned manner. He didn't just ask because he felt like he needed to. He was truly worried for her. She was one of his important friends after all, and he had sworn to keep all of them safe and contented no matter what.

"Yes, friend Robin. I am the okay." The red-headed alien nodded firmly, but he could still catch sight of her pure emerald orbs quiver. "I should be asking you the same." She changed the subject, forcing a wry smile on her lips: "Are you doing well lately? You seemed a bit unordinary this morning, and we're all very worried."

"Yes, I'm fine." The Boy Wonder replied without hesitation. He pursed his lips, before adding: "Raven will be all right too, you know. Don't worry."

"I… I know. Friend Raven could not perform such a cruel action, she… she just could not…" Starfire bit his lips, unable to uphold the shield that wrapped around her emotions anymore. Her trembled fingers drifted to a lock of hair that fell down from her forehead a clenched it tightly as tears started brimming in her big, startled green eyes.

Robin could tell that she was trying to convince herself more than just telling that to him. His fingers tightened into a fist as he tried his best to put on a steadfast expression. Without her here, his family was slowly falling apart…

He had to get her back by all costs!

"She didn't, Star. You know Raven. Someone is trying to frame her, and we'll find out who they are." He stopped for a while, grabbing the alien's shoulder as he eyes looked straight into hers: "We are all she has now. We have to have faith in her no matter what, and more than that, we have to stay strong for her."

Starfire didn't say anything, she just nodded her head firmly and swipe the back of her hand across her eyes to clean away the tears that lingered. Robin patted her shoulders slightly. This might not be much, but at least it could give her some hope, and kept her trust in Raven's innocence intact.

"Hey, did you say the mayor is here?" Robin suddenly asked, his voice turned from comforting to icy cold so quickly that Starfire almost froze in utter shock. The Boy Wonder glanced at his friend, realizing what he had done and immediately tried to keep his emotions at bay. His expression went neutral again, but beneath the masks, his vibrant blue orbs were pent up with so much rage that it could burn somebody alive in an instance!

"Yes, Robin, he wishes to see us and talk about friend Raven." Starfire nodded, sending a glance at his feature but saw nothing unusual. Robin pretended not to see the look she was giving him and just simply flashed her a soft smile:

"Come on, let's not keep him waiting."

Starfire tried to pick up something abnormal in his way of talking, but she got nothing. Maybe she just misheard it last time. Shrugging her shoulders, the girl then walked down on the hall way, Robin followed her closely.

Mr. Mayor, huh?

Such a familiar name. So familiar that even in death he couldn't forget!

Behind the masks, Robin's rage had died out a bit, but still remained an ablaze fire dancing in the depth of his blue orbs. He remembered it now. Back there, before the night Raven was sent away, the mayor did come to the Tower once. It seemed that he just wanted to share their pain, and expressed the most sincere condole.

Now that he thought of it, condoling was just a mere excuse. Rubbing the salt in the wounds and watching them suffer must be the real reason behind this "friendly visit".

How come he knew?

Well, of course he knew! If it hadn't been for that, why must he snap that bastard's neck right on the filthy floor years after?

Finally, after millions and millions and millions of times torturing that very man to Death using every method possible in his mind, Robin managed to come to his senses. He couldn't show that he was feeling down, that would only delight that bastard even further. And now wasn't the right time to finish him off yet. He had to save Raven first, everything else came later.

But this didn't mean he would let that son of a bitch walk out of here pleased and happy.

Robin's lips curled up into a wicked smirk as a cunning glint flashed across his squinted blue orbs.

If he couldn't go in for the kill now, he could at least give a warning shot.

After all, it would be such a waste to let the prey slip away with ease, especially when they have brought themselves right at his very door!

**Author's note**: A cliff hanger, Hah Hah Hah! I know I'm evil! Now, nobody will get to know what happens next, nobody but me! Muahahahha!

Ahem… Well, what do you think of this chapter, is it good or what? I know that Raven is not featured here, but don't worry, they'll reunite soon.

Anyway, thank you for all the reviews and follows and favorites. I'm really happy that you like this idea. And somebody did ask me whether I will include the Bat family or characters from other comics (sorry for forgetting your username :P). I want to, but I will have to research a bit. DC comics are not popular in my country, and I have barely read any.

That's it, until next time! And don't forget to leave a review!

Love you all

.Red


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note**: Wow, it seems that you're really into this story. Dark Robin is certainly a great way to develop a plot, right? Just imagine all the intension, twists and turns you might encounter along the way! Why didn't the producer of the Teen Titan let things flow this path right at the beginning?

Ahhh, right! This is supposed to be a kid show, my bad…

Anyway, let's get on with the third chapter. Are you ready for some mischiefs up a certain masked hero's sleeve?

**Chapter 3**

The weather was very nice today. Robin noted to himself as he gazed out of the blissful blue sky embellished with clumps of floating white clouds just outside the gigantic window of the Tower's Common Room. A nostalgic feeling slowly built up within the Boy Wonder as he took in his surroundings as well as everyone present in the room. Everything, even the tiniest details, was the spitting image of the piece of memory running in his mind.

He was occupying the seat in the middle of the black sofa. Starfire sat to his left, one of her legs was crossing on top of the other as she laced her delicate fingers together and placed them atop her knees. Beast Boy took the sit to his right, his back stiffly straightened as he kept fidgeting in his spot. His nervousness reflected in his pursed lips as well as the beads of sweats kept rolling down his forehead. Cyborg stood behind them all, clutching the headrests tightly in his massive hands. His face was calm, but still couldn't hide the fact that he was anxious.

Robin's orbs darted around underneath his masks, taking a good look at all of his friends before coming to a halt at the person sitting on a chair just behind the coffee table.

The man's appearance entered his vision. The familiar angular face with hollow cheeks and chiseled jawline, nasolabial folds ran deep on his skin, etching down even further whenever his lips curved into a smile. Age had done a number on him, given the fact that his brown hair had already mixed with white strands and several wrinkles ran under his eyes. Still, his entire feature showed a distinctive temperament that few could possessed.

What's more, his brown eyes expressed calm and quietude, but a part of they still carried sincerity and sympathy – exactly the expression a stranger would wear when coming to condole with somebody.

No wonder his younger self was fooled by this look. A cruel glint flashed across Robin's cold eyes as he studied the older man in front of him. Not even a trait of reluctance or disdain could be picked up from his behavior, expression, and even posture. As expected of a cunning old fox. Never let his guard down until what he wanted was in his palm.

"Mr. Mayor." The Boy Wonder greeted with a small smile. As the word fell out of his lips, he had to tighten his fingers into fists to stop them from shaking in rage. That title, that spiteful, contemptuous, despicable title was pulling memories out from the bottom of his mind. But it only took a moment before he managed to push them all down.

"It's such an honor for us to get your visit today." Spoke Robin as he picked up the pot of tea on the table and pour a cup for himself, then his team, and then the "venerable mayor" sitting in front of him. His eyes stole a glance at the older man, and his lips secretly twitched into a sly smirk before falling down again.

There was no need to drown himself in rage anymore.

The time when he could literally tear that spurious, detestable smile off that bastard's face would come soon.

All he needed was a little bit patience.

"Don't mention it, my young friend. And you can call me Mr. Ruth, by the way." The older man's smile turned even brighter as he casually lifted the cup and sipped a gulp: "You're the protectors of the city, and now you're obviously in a grave distress. This is the least I can do for you."

"Thank you, Mister Ruth. That is really nice of you to say so." Starfire nodded her head gratefully as she tried to uphold her composure. Mr. Ruth answered her with a small, reassuring, his hand reached out to pat her slightly. Robin and the other Titans didn't say anything. But he could detect that at the moment the final words slipped from the mayor's lips, tension had begun to rise in the room.

"This must be a harsh time for all of you. I can hardly imagine what you're going through right now. I myself would have been devastated for the rest of my life if my close friend was behind bars for such a terrible thing." He paused for a moment, letting out a long sigh, before continuing: "Ms. Raven was… a good person. She contributed a lot to this city. She never failed our trust and always fulfilled the duty of a hero. I…Even now I still can't believe that she was capable of those brutal crimes."

Robin sat in his spot and listened to the "sympathetic" words the mayor had to offer. As expected of someone who could slip away from his fingers until he was the only one left. Age truly did come with wisdom. He had to give this old man some credits, not everybody could put the art of killing without spilling blood into practice this well.

Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy could barely hold themselves together upon entering the room to meet with the mayor. Ever since Raven was accused and locked away, their life hadn't been easy at all. The reality of one of their own turned her back on all obligations and duties of a hero and did the most unspeakable things was enough to tear them apart. And the pressure they faced every day just dug that wound deeper and deeper. The citizens and the press would often crowd up around them after every battle, making questions about Raven's incident. They tried to defend her, but the situation kept on deteriorating when all evidences pointed otherwise.

They knew there was no hope. Still, they struggled to maintain the unaffected images.

But those words were simply the last straw. They reminded them of what they never wanted to accept, peeling the scabs off an unhealed wound.

Starfire couldn't hold on anymore. Her big, emerald eyes began wavering, and she had to bite her lips to stop the sobs from coming out. Cyborg's robotic hands tightened around the cushions as he bit his lips and bowed his head. Beast Boy's head fell into his hands as his fingers tightened around his green hair. He could feel his body tremble. This pain was simply too much for them to take on, and none of them could do anything to fix it…

But the tension in the atmosphere soon shattered. None of them expected their leader to talk. They thought that he, just like themselves, was being swallowed in all the trauma and grief the current situation put them through.

"Thank you for thinking of us, Mr. Mayor." Robin spoke casually as he put the cup of tea back onto the table. "But that won't be necessary. I myself don't believe our Raven is capable of those crimes either. It just doesn't sit right with me. She is a good person, she protects the citizen, and she has contributed a lot to the city, so she just doesn't have any reason to damage it, right? As her leader and friend, I believe in her innocence. And I think that you should do just the same. After all, she has never failed any of us, isn't that right, Mr. Mayor?"

His lips tugged into a small smirk as he finished the last words. Underneath the masks, his eyes secretly followed Ruth's reactions, and he instantly picked up a dark glint flashed across those brown orbs, but it disappeared within a split second. On the outside, his expressions remained unchanged, but satisfaction was swelling up within him. Had it not been for the current situation, he might have already let a full grin bloom on his lips.

Did that old bastard really thought he nobody would notice that he put everything about Raven's heroism in past tense to etch into their mind that she had casted it all away?

As expected, his plan upon coming here was obviously to open up their old wounds and leave behind even more fresh ones.

Robin thought as he put one hand on top of the other to cover the fact that his fingers were tightening into fist. This conversation did take place in his past life. But at that time, he was blinded by the sadness for Raven and the belief that Ruth was on his side the whole time, so he couldn't see through the rotten nature behind that smiling face. He even felt grateful that someone as busy as the mayor could come and condole with them!

Just how foolish was him back there?

"It is a good thing that you can still have faith in your friends in such a time." Ruth flashed him another sympathetic smile, picking up his cup and drained the liquid inside: "This virtue is not something many can possess. I know it is difficult, and I want to believe in her to. But the evidences are as clear as daylight now. I'm terribly sorry, but you must accept that…"

"There are people framed almost every day in the world, Mr. Mayor, and there are people released for the same cause every day." Robin nonchalantly cut in: "Wasn't there a man like that in Jump last month? I remembered news about that were all over the place. As I remembered, he was proven guilty at first, right?" His lips formed a small smirk as he continued, underneath the masks, his cold blue orbs pierced into Ruth's brown ones: "Who knows? Maybe her name will be cleared today, or tomorrow, or the day after that, or the moment she is transported away. Nobody can be certain of the future." His body slightly leaned forward as he lowered his tone and enunciated every word clearly: "We'll stand by her side the whole time. We'll be there as the abject miscreant that slandered her facing their punishment. And I'm sure that you, the one who always stand for justice and peace, will do the same for their protector, right? You did say that you never believed that she could perform those brutal actions, didn't you?"

The corner of his lips quickly tugged into a devious line before dropping back in an instance as he saw Ruth's smile withered as his expression went constrained and his jaw tightened. The last shred of amiability gradually vanquished from his eyes, leaving behind nothing but total darkness. Having his own plan backfired with the words he intended to use with them at the beginning and by the one he always looked down on was certainly not a very pleasant feeling. The bastard must be furious now!

"Mr. Mayor? What's wrong? Why are you so fretful out of a sudden?" Robin leaned against the cushion of the black sofa, putting on an innocent smile as he eyed the older man. He could sense that his friends were eyeing him with shock spread across their expressions, but he just brushed that aside.

He didn't intend to explain this whole… restore-to-life incident to them. He didn't want to hide it from them at all, but they wouldn't believe. Even some part of him still thought it as an utter delusion by now! Trying to explain everything could lead to an even bigger mess. In the worst case, they might process this as a sign of him being out of his mind due to the unbearable stress lately and send him to an asylum.

As far as he could tell, right now, the number one choice for this matter would be not breathing a single word.

Robin pondered for a moment before again driving his attention back to Ruth. The man had already snapped out of his unintentional broadcast of feelings and was no longer hot under the collar. This wasn't something of a surprise, the Boy Wonder had already seen this coming. His choice of words might be out of the man's anticipation and rendered him frustrated for a while. But it would take more than that to truly drag his real nature out.

Still, it didn't matter. He had already stamped on that vile plan of tearing his team apart even more. For now, that was quite enough.

"Sorry, something just popped up in my mind." Ruth replied with a calm and placid voice, a slight smile tugged his lips' corner upward. It was like he and the person whose face contorted in wrath from earlier wasn't the same person. "You know, boring paper works, they're all over my office now." His orbs rolled down, and he suddenly raised his wrist with an exclamation of disbelief : "Oh my, look at the time! It's already this late. I'd better get back. Goodbye, Titans. And I hope you can all make it through this harsh time."

With that, he flashed them one last smile before standing up from his seat and displayed himself to the door. He took long pace. The action seemed nothing suspicious, but by the look of his rigid spine and his somewhat urgent footsteps, Robin could tell that he wanted nothing more than getting out of here at once.

"Whoa, dude, that was... speechless." From the furthest corner of his right, Beast Boy suddenly inched closer to him, his words slipped out just above a whisper as if he had yet snapped out of his stupor. He even jabbed his forearm multiple time as if to make sure that he was still the real deal and hadn't be replaced by a robot or alien or something.

Robin turned to meet his green friend's gaze. Tons of questions were swimming in Beast Boy eyes, as clearly as daylight since the younger boy didn't even bother to hide them. And although they didn't say anything, the Boy Wonder could tell with no difficulty that Cyborg and Starfire were staring at him in awe, still had doubt in what they had just witnessed.

"I only told him the truth." Robin shrugged, removing his eyes from his shocked friends before latching his look at the door where the mayor had just walked through seconds ago. His voice was calm, almost like nothing had happened and he himself didn't have the mayor left in such a thunderstruck state. "Raven isn't a criminal. He should have already seen that, but he didn't. As a mayor, he shouldn't let false information get to his mind this much. I just wanted to remind him."

"But Robin, she's in a very dire situation here. The laws, the evidence, the police, everything is against her." Cyborg breathed out in a desperate manner. The pain lingered in his eyes showed that he didn't want to accept this either, but there was no other choice.

"She was framed, and that is all that matters." The Boy Wonder replied with a stern manner as he stood up and made his way to the gigantic glass scene that looked out onto the ocean below and the faraway city. As the puzzled gazes of the other Titans fell on his back, confused of what he about to do, he suddenly turned back, almost making them jump from their spots.

"Raven is our friend, and right now she needs us more than anything. Those people out there, they don't know her. They only believe in what they see with their own eyes. To them, she is just a criminal who committed unforgivable crimes and must be punished, nothing more, nothing less. It's written in the stone for them, and it has etched into their mind that she is evil. So they won't try and fight for her. Every slandered victim has to undergo the same thing, and it's definitely not a pleasant experience."

Robin stated his point with a clear, steadfast manner. Those were things he had realized and always hold within himself ever since she pulled him out from the icy depth of the ocean and held him as her power made its way into his flesh and sewed up all his wounds. She acted like nothing had changed, and there was nothing wrong with her. But he knew deep down inside, she was not, that a terrible scar had carved itself onto her mind and soul, a scar that could never be erased.

And no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't completely tear down the wall that had concreted between them.

He could never truly return what had been taken from her.

It was always eating him from inside out, pulling down his heart with a massive weight, and burying him under pile after pile of laments.

He never stopped wishing he could do everything all over again. Then he would protect her with all he got, hold her in his arms and never let her go. Never would he let any tragedy fall upon her.

And now that he had been granted with that chance, he intended to keep his words no matter what it cost!

The thoughts ran through Robin' head, filled with determination as his gloved fingers clenched so hard that his nails seemed to have torn through the spandex and pierced into his palm. He took a while to observe his friends, taking in their reactions. One by one, he saw their expressions began shifting, starting with disbelief, then doubt mixed with incredulity, then a bit bewilderment as his words finally set in. Eventually, the waves after waves of emotions sweeping through their features stopped, and utter calm took over them.

"You… you're right." Cyborg muttered after a while of silence, shaking his head as his voice picked on a higher notch while anger started lingering in his tone: "There was no way our girl could do such a thing. Somebody must have set her up. Just wait until I got my hand on them!"

"We shall stand at her side. Oh, our poor friend, it must be terrible for her to live the life behind those bars. We need to get her out quickly." Starfire stood up from her seat, her voice wavered as thoughts of what her friend must be going through right now ran through her mind. Still, her emerald eyes gleamed with utter determination as she made her point: "You are precise, friend Robin. This is the time friend Raven needs us the most and we cannot let her down."

"Dude, you're surprising us." Beast Boy was the last one to talk, after the other two had finished for one minute. Even now, his eyes still couldn't hide the awe and disbelief Robin had dragged him through. "I thought you would be like 'We must do what's best for the city' and 'We have no other choice'. You've always been that way since they took her away." He stopped, locking his gaze with his leader's, and suddenly his lips cracked into the wildest smile his muscles were capable of displaying: "I'm so glad that you changed, Rob. We'll do all we can to clear her name."

Robin just replied them all with a brief nod before again returning his masked eyes back to the see-through glass. His reflection staring back at him, two set of masked eyes pierced into each other as he inched closer to the screen, until his nose almost met the cold surface of glass.

He never thought he could see himself like this again.

The protector of the city, the leader of the Titans, the one that always upheld justice by all he got.

He took a long look at the ebony hair that was always neatly shaped into spikes, the red shirt of his uniform, the 'R' symbol he always carried on his chest, the black-yellow cape that never left his back, and the domino masks that hid his real identity beneath. This was Robin. Fearless Robin, brave Robin, courageous Robin, the one that never stop fighting the wrong and stood up for the right.

His fingers suddenly smashed onto the screen, right in the middle of his face as his brows furrowed and his jaw clenched.

_Stupid Robin, foolish Robin, rash Robin, the one who let his entire family die and push the girl he loved away._

He became Nightwing because he couldn't stand seeing Robin again every time he caught glance of his reflection. Just the thought of how stupid he was and how he was completely unaware of how those bastard stabbed him in the back all the time enough to drive him over the edge. He was afraid he would someday take his own life if he went on living as Robin.

And now, fate had brought Robin back to him once more.

But he didn't find this ironic, not even a bit. He was angry at himself back there for being so foolish. But this also made him see one thing clearly.

Robin was the one at fault, not Nightwing, nor Dick, nor Richard Grayson, so Robin must be the one who fixed it. Robin must be the one who took back what he had lost.

And as for those that dare to take anyone he cherished away from him…

The Boy Wonder's eyes narrowed as his vibrant blue orbs underneath the mask ran cold. Something began stirring in the depth of them and began getting closer to the surface. His eyes went darker, and darker, and darker as whatever underneath them emerged and coated them in utter darkness. In an instance, all emotions faded from his gaze, all but a wicked glint and utter ferocity.

The corner of his lips twisted into a devious grin as he gazed upon the city below.

They better sleep with one eye opened from now on, because Robin would be out for their blood!

oOo

The chamber was small, brightly illuminated, but small. Everything inside was kept as simple as possible. Four walls clad in titanium, a small bed located in a corner of the room, while a toilet and a sink located in another corner. And that's it. No table, or chair, or mirror, or any other essentials. A door was attached to one side of the room – it was a gigantic one, made from an entire hunk of metal, rigid and completely unbreakable.

A small figure was curling up on the thin mattress of the bed. The curves and shape of the body showed that it was a young girl. Her short violet hair scattered around the pillow underneath her head, some strands even spilled onto her face, but it seemed that she didn't mind. Her skin looked pale, but not in usual or lively way. Bags had already formed underneath her eyes as her violet orbs focused gazed into distance, as though she was trying to escape from reality. Had it not been for her constantly rising chest, she might have appeared dead by now.

The girl stirred, somehow catching the sight of her orange uniform in the way. A bitter smile pulled her lips upward. Who would have thought that the strong and proud Raven of the Teen Titans would someday end up locked up in the most secure sector of the prison like this?

And even worse, for murdering 20 people at once, including 4 cops…

While she didn't even know when and how she committed it…

Raven let out a long sigh. She hated being so helpless and incapable of anything like this. But what could she possibly do now? All the evidences were again her, all the witnesses were against her, and all the testimonies were against her. How could there be witness when she didn't even do anything?

The empath knew that she was framed, that someone was trying to set her up, but she didn't know how she could get out, because nobody would believe her.

The city, the citizens, the police…

Her friends…

The thought of her friends sent a sharp needle through Raven's heart. She missed them, she really, really missed them. She missed the squabble between Beast Boy and Cyborg over what to eat for breakfast. She missed the Starfire's persistence in getting her to taste her alien meal or accompany her to the shopping mall. She missed the training sections with Robin every morning. She missed everything about them.

She wanted to see them so, so bad.

But even them wouldn't believe her. They thought that she actually slaughtered 20 people by her own hands. And there was nothing she could do to get them to trust her again when the evidences were as clear as daylight.

Raven had hoped that her name would be clear sooner or later. She had thought that she wouldn't have to be here long, and her friends would come and get her right away. But days kept on passing by, and nothing ever changed. Nobody came and freed her.

Her hope had started wearing thin.

She still couldn't get it. Why did thing come down to this?

Suddenly, the door to her chamber burst opened, cutting Raven's chain of thoughts. Startled, the empathy jumped up from her bed and cautiously turned her eyes toward the opened entrance. At least 4 cops were standing there, in their amours with apparently loaded weapons in their hands. Raven's brows furrowed. This was strange. Cops did drop by her chamber once in a while, but never had the full set on like this.

"What is…"

Her lips parted to make a question. But before she could finish, someone in the group suddenly lifted their gun and fired at her!

Raven's heart almost jumped to her throat as her eyes went wide. Still, it was already too late for her to avoid the strike. She wasn't in her best shape now, and her power had been nullified by a special collar around her neck. All she could do was standing there and watched as a wave of electricity shot out of the gun in a split second, and quickly engulfing her entire body!

Unbearable pain seared through her flesh and bone, and Raven had no choice but to let out a scream before crumbling to the floor. The attack was simply too much for her body to take on, and her system had started shutting down. As darkness clouded over her vision, she could still see several figures approaching her, as their voice slipped into her ears:

"Is she out yet?"

"Look like it. She took quite a hit. I doubt that she can still stay awake."

"Less talking. We don't have much time. Grab her and leave."

"Fuck, just look at those curves! Lucky bastards, they get to have her all for themselves."

_What?_

Raven tried to figure out what they were saying. But she couldn't hold on any longer. Her entire body hurt, and her mind refused to cooperate.

With a painful groan, the dark girl was out.

**Author's note**: That's it, end of chapter 3! Do you like it? Tell me in the reviews, okay?


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Haa… Ahhh… Haa…"

The room was almost deluged in a thick layer of darkness. Long curtains flowed down from frames of what seemed to be window with designs that had been made as simple as possible: solid color and no pattern or lace. They stood between the blackness wandering in the chamber and everything outside, forming an uninviting barrier. Still, through the small open spaces between them, rays of sunlight managed to pour through and somewhat illuminated the pitch-black area, vaguely gave out the high ceiling, polished floors and white walls as well as some bookcases and cabinets filled with papers.

But frankly speaking, the most suitable word to describe the entire space was empty. And that would have turned into vacant had it not been for a desk at the center. It was a wooden one, standing out with a deluxe intricate structure and well-polished parts - only one look could tell that lots of money had been paid to put it there.

"Ahh… Hahhh…"

Chains after chains of female's cries deprived from just behind the desk, where a man in his middle age rested on a luxurious office chair. His eyes closed, his hands behind his head as he leaned back on the chair, apparently in a relaxed posture.

But what drew most attention wasn't this man himself, or the all but desolate scene surrounding him, but the female crouching on his lap with her legs spread wide and her feet grounded into the cushion of his chair. Luscious moans fell from her provocative lips as the cherry lipstick coated all over them got thinner and thinner every time she bit lips or ran her tongue across them. Waves of blonde hair glided down her back, became unruly with every up-and-down movements of her lithe body.

Still, as whatever went on between them got more intense, the man whom she was on never showed any change in his feature, or let any emotion flash across his face even once. He just sat there, chiseled face drowned in a strange state of calm, even the rising and falling of his chest remained even as if there wasn't a naked girl riding him in the middle of his office!

"Mr. Mayor, why're you so silent today?" The girl knitted her brows, her lips curved down in a pouting manner as her moans melt into a whiny mutter: "Is there something bothering you? Annie can help you chase that away, you know?"

For once after minutes of silence, the man's eyelids flew opened, and the girl froze as she came face to face with a pair of brown orbs. At first look, nothing unusual could be detected from them. But as the blonde gazed longer into his eyes, she only found herself staring into an endless pit of darkness. Icy, freezing, frigid darkness. She swallowed, the blazing fire inside her degenerated and moped into bone-chilling cold itself as she found her skin crawl uncomfortably. Too petrified to move, she lost her balance and fell flat on the floor, a cry of pain flying from her cherry-red lips.

"Get out."

The blonde didn't hesitate as she complied with the request. Her shaky fingers gathered the wrinkled clothes scattered on the ground and she wrapped them around her bare body with an unbelievable speed. Her face turned birch white as her breaths became erratic when she realized that the pair of eyes resembling that of a predator hadn't left her back yet. As the last button was in place, she staggeringly lunged toward the door, almost stumbled and fell halfway.

Ruth quietly watched as his secretary slammed the door shut and scuttled as far as she could from his office. His lips slightly twitched upward as he remembered her petrified, almost teary face as she tried her best to pick her jelly legs from the floor. Almost everyone he revealed this side to tend to break out in cold sweats and had all their strength wiped out from their body like that. It occurred so often that he had grown used to it and observed it as a mundane, unsurprised thing.

Never had he expected that someone who always sent the others on the floor almost wet their pants would someday be startled by someone who was barely half his age.

His eyes narrowed as he set his lips in a thin line, what took place just hours ago started coming back to him. What the Titan leader had said resounded in his mind loud and clear, not a single word missed.

In a way, there was nothing wrong with his replies. He just expressed what he thought about the whole incident and pointed out that they would be by their friend's side no matter what. Nothing more, nothing less. It was normal of him to do so, if not completely understandable. His friend was in a very bad situation here, but they were close, they were very close, so him taking her side wasn't anything out of the usual.

But somehow, that made him uncomfortable. The way he spoke seemed normal, but Ruth had a feeling that boy was countering him using his very words. That boy waited for the chance, and struck where he needed to, gathering what he had received into a bullet and sent it right back at Ruth himself.

But that wasn't the end. Something in that boy's words was indicating the fact that he, the Mayor, didn't care for his friend at all and arrived at their home just to let them know that she was the real culprit and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Even if he intended to do so, he didn't like when someone saw through him, not one bit.

Ruth's eyes turned darker as the memories became vivid in his mind, as clear as crystal, as if he was going through everything all over again. Still, how could it be? That boy was just a stupid kid, a goody-two-shoe to the bone! He cared about nothing but carrying out justice and protected the city. Verbally attacking wasn't his style. He didn't even see through this trick just a few days ago. Then why now?

Could it be that this was just a coincidence?

Those words could only be spoken by a purest mind, or a truly malevolent one. If it wasn't a coincidence, then he should be alerted from now on.

Ruth pondered for a moment, but then decided to go with the first one. Maybe he was thinking too much. That was just a foolish hero who only saw things in black and white, how could there be anything of ill intention behind his words? Besides, that goody-two-shoe only got justice and law in his head and held a stupid belief that rectitude stood for good, while the opposite stood for evil. Even if he somehow came up with malicious intention, those ideas would kill them instantly.

There was nothing he needed to worry about.

Speaking of hero…

The "respectful" Mayor pulled out a drawer in his desk and picked up a cell phone – an old-style one, almost back in the 90s, an object that nobody could have thought that he kept by his side. He looked through the unbelievably short contact list, and dialed the number on top.

"_Yes?"_ Whoever on the other line picked up in a split second. There was no greeting, or questions addressed the other's identity, just a straight-to-the-point manner.

"Did you have the girl?" Ruth spoke in a calm voice, having already regained his composure.

"_Right here with us."_ A somewhat cheeky voice replied him, but it then turned low with apprehension lingered on the edge: _"You sure we can do that? She's a freaking Titan, Ruth. If this gets out…"_

"I'm the Mayor, what do you have to worry about?" Ruth cut him off coldly: "Just make sure you all treat her well. I'll take care of the rest."

"_You've got that. How about the escort? Still according to the plan?"_

"Tomorrow night, 10:00 p.m" Ruth replied: "Then, the Titan Raven will vanish from this little world. Nobody will remember her." His tone was as gentle and calm as ever, but the radically low tone it suddenly wore indicated that he got nothing good up his sleeve.

"_And when the bitch isn't around, those stupid Titans will fall apart for sure."_

The other line replied with a chuckle, which Ruth pleasantly returned with a more wicked version.

"Yeah, falling apart, broken, dust on the ground waiting to be blown away." His voice dropped temperature out of a sudden as a malicious glint flashed across his eyes: "So make sure you don't fail."

"_Chill. We've got everything under control. Besides, she's just a frail little girl, what havoc can she possible wreck?"_

"Don't underestimate her. And keep it in mind that I can only help you cover it up. If you fail, that's your problem to deal with, not mine anymore."

"_Okay, okay. Oh, shit, gotta scram. I'll call you when it's over."_

"No need. I'll contact you when it's the right time. Just try not to screw this up." Ruth narrowed his eyes, his voice never wavered – still that smooth, almost velvet tone like that of a gentlemen from centuries ago. But underneath it lurked a silent warning, creeping around his tone like a predator making its move toward the prey.

"_Got it."_ The man on the other line responded with uneasiness, obviously sensing something wrong with the way Ruth's voice crawled into his ear. The sound of somebody clearing their throat and inhaling deeply could be detected from the phone as that man uttered a curt farewell and cut the connection, leaving behind nothing but a monotonous, droning tune.

Alone by himself in the silent, dimly lit office, Ruth again pulled out his drawer before throwing the heavy, old-style phone inside. As his secrets was secured in the darkness the moment the wooden cabinet slid back into its spot, the Mayor sat straight on his chair and took out a small pen from his pocket. He then proceeded to deal with the paperwork which was lying forgotten on the furthest corner of his luxurious desk the whole tome, his expression remained as calm as a dove.

Had anyone walked upon this scene only, they would have never expected that he and the frightening man from earlier was actually the same person.

oOo

"Star, can you show me the witness list again?"

Cyborg's brows furrowed into a perfect straight line as his eyes scanned the piece of document he had in hand. The half-robot inched closer to it until his eyes were just millimeters away from the paper as though he was trying to pierce a hole through it with his gaze. Then, with a sigh of frustration, he casted it aside with a wave, and moved his attention to the enormous screen.

The alien princess had already switched the regular TV programs into what looked like a news board but only hung a couple of images – somebody's portraits to be exact. Their names, ages, and gender varied, and they had no connection of all kind. The more Cyborg stared at it, the more the pain in his head grew.

"I've checked it tons of time already, we all did." He let out a long sigh before hung his head: "They have no crime record, their files are all clean, nothing unusual happened to their closed ones before so it couldn't be a blackmail. They all have well-paid job, some even have living conditions better than us, so bribing is already off the list."

His words trailed off, and he sat there in silence, unable to look at the screen and whatever displayed on it anymore. Hovering just a few inches away from her half-robot friend, Starfire gave the screen an intense look, her green orbs flickered frantically from one image to another, desperately trying to spot something in common between them.

Still, her spirit didn't last long. The red-headed beauty soon closed her eyes as a melancholy sigh fell from her lips. She shook her head in utter defeat, posture so gloomy that even her gorgeous hair seemed to have lost its luster.

"I cannot spot anything that is not the okay about those people." Uttered the alien as she lowered herself down and sat crossed-legged next to Cyborg: "I have looked at their information, their life, their likes and dislikes, but I still cannot find anything at all."

That line seemed to have already sealed the thread of fate once more. The two Titans looked at each other, the light that had been flickered at the depth of their eyes slowly faded. They didn't say anything, they didn't need to.

Robin's words had brought hope back to them, making them forget how cruel the reality was for a split second. For a while, they truly believed that miracle had happened, and if they tried hard enough, they could drag their friend out of this mud, and things would eventually return to normal.

But now, the truth had caught up to them once more.

There was simply nothing to recheck. The evidence was there, as clear as daylight. No matter how hard they try, they couldn't change it.

"Friend Raven, she…"

Starfire bit her lips, a lone tear fell from her beautiful emerald eyes. Her fingers tightened into fists as she hung her pretty head.

They had done all they could to deny this for weeks. They tried to believe that Raven was innocent, that Raven was framed, that Raven would be out of jail any minute, and the real culprit would pay the price.

Still, nothing happened. Day by day, things still remained the way they were, their friend still behind bars, evidence against her kept on popping up, while more and more people were screaming on the top of their lungs about delivering her the punishment she deserved.

Their hope cracked, then broken, then slowly vanished.

There was no running away from the truth now.

"I know." Cyborg bowed his head, a long sigh slipped from his lips and his only human eyes clenched: "I know."

He didn't want things to end up like this. Raven was his little sister, someone he had always kept an eye on, someone he had always looked after. But it had already come down to this, no matter how he wished for it not to.

They still had their duty, their obligation. They couldn't neglect it. All criminals must pay the price. They have made that pledge the moment they became the Titans.

They couldn't chase after this case anymore. They still had a city to protect.

"We must accept it. We're the heroes of the city. We have to place it on top."

A whisper dropped from his lips, and then, only silence left. None of them bothered to say anything to each other.

Behind the couch, a teenager crouched with his head in his knees. He understood this, he understood this truth better than anyone of them. He knew that there was no hope, there had never been in the first place. But he still tried to hold onto a slim chance.

So, the moment his leader spoke those words, he was beyond happy. Finally, they could reopen the case and save her. He still had his doubts, but he hoped that this investigation would be able to chase them away and get her back to them.

Maybe he just shouldn't be so optimistic and just accepted the truth in the first place.

Their justice had pointed out that she was wrong, the laws had proved that she was guilty. They had no other choice!

Beast Boy dug his fingernails into his scalp as a bitter sob escaped his throat.

oOo

In another place of the Tower, everything was drown in silence, but not the kind of desperate, dreary silence that haunted every corner of the Common room. This one was just simply… quiet, absolutely quiet, but also sent chill down your spine for some reason you didn't even know. Kind of like the kind of silence you experienced before an aggressive storm struck.

A lone figure strolled casually alongside an enormous book case, running his fingers across the spines of countless books varying in both side and age. Some of them wrapped up in ancient leather with several strange symbols carving on to their back, obviously not from this time or place. Some were newer, with recognizable letters indicating that they were famous creations of renowned authors. Some were freshly bought, and nobody could tell whether they had been opened or not.

"Do you miss her?"

A soft murmur fell from his thin lips, as he pulled out one of the just-added books and let his masked eyes skim their length. To his surprise, it was a love story, nothing too excessive or tear-jerking, but definitely not something he expected to find on her reading list.

"You're into this too?"

A slight chuckle made its way out of his amusing smirk, receiving no respond, but he didn't mind. Robin ran his eyes up and down a few more pages before sliding the book back to its place, making sure he didn't mess anything up.

These books were her favorite things, after all.

Behind his masks, the vibrant blue eyes softened as a yearning glint glided across them when the image of her sitting on the couch with one creamy leg crossed on top of another, so indulging in her book that the surrounding world seemed to have already faded away to her. Sometimes, a strand of violet hair would fell into her gaze and she had to halt her reading to push it back behind her ear. He could still remember the irritated look she put on as she did so. She had never been fond of having anything interrupting the precious time between her and her book.

She must have got those books for a relaxing weekend, not knowing about the devious plan she would fall victim to.

His poor Raven. She must be really scared right now…

The gaze hidden underneath his masks shifted from longing and wistful to thunderous and sinister in less than a split second. Turning his back against her beloved books and leaning on the massive shelf, the Boy Wonder went into concentration mode as he dwell deeper into his mind, picking up memories here and there. The faces of the ones he loathed the most, the ones torturing her floated up to him one by one and lined up before his eyes like shooting targets.

Now, all they needed were just holes in certain places.

An inhuman, twisted grin slithered onto his face as several kinds of punishments started roaming over his mind. Oh, he could even hear their screams of pain right now! He couldn't wait to tear them apart, and put them back, and then tear them apart once more, repeated the process over and over again until he was satisfied.

Nobody could hurt his Raven and got away with it!

Robin took a deep breath, trying to calm the burning flame of wrath within him down. This was no time for his inner fury. He couldn't lose his temper. He has to stay sharp and focused if he still wanted to save her. He only got this chance. He couldn't let it go down the drain.

He was the only one who could help her now.

As for his friends…

His expression grew grim as he recalled the conversation he shared with them not so long ago. It wasn't to encourage them to have faith in Raven's innocence – well, a part of it was, but not his entire purpose. He just wanted to see whether he could trust them to stand on his side and trust what he would let them in on, whether they would believe the ones they fought against this time would be the ones that always seem to support them no matter what.

And when he observed their expression, he knew that he had to go solo this time.

For a while, hope sparkled from the depth of their eyes, but soon mixed with suspicion, doubt, and skepticism. They were desperate for something to ease their troubled hearts, so they just went with his words since they were like bright light shone through their darkest fears. But soon, that brief happiness would fade quickly when the truth began sinking in, when they buried themselves in countless searches and realized nothing could be changed.

By now, they had probably given up on fighting, and perhaps already immersed themselves in grief once more.

The hesitation and doubt lingered in their postures and orbs while they were with him in the Common Room had given this away. That's why he had left. There was no point in staying anymore. They wouldn't believe in what he said. To them, justice was still everything, and they would give their life to make sure it wouldn't crumble.

He and they belonged to different worlds now.

His face became unreadable as his cobalt blue eyes ran cold and hollow. He didn't know how to describe what he felt now, but he knew for sure it wasn't pain, or sadness, or sorrow.

He had been away from them for so long, many things about them had already faded from his memories. When he saw them breathing and living safe and sound, relief and happiness filled his heart. For a while, he had even thought that they could restart everything and lead a happy life again.

But when the joy came off his system and reality caught up to him once more, he realized that it was impossible, that things would never return to the way they were anymore.

It was like coming across something valuable to you as a kid, a strong sense of yearning and love arose inside you, but then soon subsided after a minute because you simply had moved on from that phrase.

All of them were still important to him. But he knew walls had concreted between them.

All except…

With long steps, he crossed the room and made his way to a nightstand right beside her bed. A small smile brightened his serious expression as his masked eyes caught her raven-shaped headboard. She sure loved her cloak with a passion. Even in sleep, she still wanted to rest under its shadow.

His fingers stretched and he picked up a picture encompassed in a simple black frame standing on top of the nightstand. It was one of the rare ones she agreed to take with her hood off. Only her in the photo, nobody else was there. She was crossing her legs in her favorite locus pose, her slender fingers gripped her knees tightly as she sent an impatient look at the camera, obviously irritated and reluctant to have her picture taken.

Robin found a soft chuckle escape his thin lips as he outlined her rounded face. She looked so innocent sitting there, and her violet eyes were so bright that they resembled stars sparkling on the black sky when night fell. How long was it since he last saw her like this? He didn't know. All the time they were together, she always seemed so forlorn and sullen. Even when he tried to cheer her up, when he got her to smile, nothing changed. Her eyes, her lips, her face, her expression – they all gave out traits of utter sorrow.

Never did he think he would get to see the proud, unbreakable Raven that always stood by his side in battles again.

But now that he did…

"Stay strong, Raven. I'm gonna get you out soon." Robin whispered to the photo, trailing his fingers on the girl's cheeks and lips. "Just wait for me, okay? Stay strong and wait for me."

No matter what, she would still be his Raven, the only one that stood by his side in his most depressed moment, the only one that cared about him when the world crumbled down, the only one that remained even when he didn't have anything left. Nothing would change that.

Even when she was clueless about all they had been through together, even when he had to rebuild everything all over again, it was totally fine by him.

He didn't want her to remember, anyway. Chains after chains of tragedies had brought them together, but forever took away the light in her eyes.

It would be better if she knew nothing about the Hell she had been put through.

The Boy Wonder set his lips in a firm line before carefully placing the picture frame back to its spot and pushed his thoughts back to their chambers. The yearning gaze was instantly washed out from his eyes, replacing by something cold as steel. The light that lit up his orbs seconds ago vanished from sight, and utter darkness soon came and took over its place.

Giving the quiet room that had long remained unoccupied one last look, Robin then turned around and silently made his way toward the door. It slid opened with a slight mechanic sound, and he walked out into the hall. His expression unreadable, void of any emotion, and the domino masks kept his cold, dark eyes hidden underneath a perfect unreadable shield.

It was time to rescue Raven…

And swept away some filthy trash along the way!

A dark, twisted glee danced on his lips, stretching them into a heartless and sinister grin. Yeah, that's it, this satisfactory feeling whenever getting a prey onto his sight, he could never have enough of it! This heartless joy he had come to love with a passion, the indescribable excitement flooded through all his vein as he cornered his enemies, and the thirst for blood that quake his entire body as his own fingers torn them apart – one by one, they swamped his system, overloaded him with a sick delight.

A sick delight that he had come to love, and to long for.

When he had got his Raven out of danger, he would make all of them pay, and he would ensure that it cost them more than just an arm and a leg.

Maybe a heart, an eye, a piece of viscera?

Or perhaps every part of their body?

A chilling chuckle spilled from his ear-to-ear grin, resounding between the closed space of the corridor, bouncing off one wall and hitting another before repeating the whole process again, filling the entire passage with a chain of blood-curling sound. Robin's footsteps became fainter and fainter before vanishing without a trace, and only then did the haunting chuckle grew fainted and eventually died off.

Once again, the hallway was left with utter silence.

oOo

Beast Boy nervously fidgeted in his spot, shifting his weight from one leg to another before clenching his fingers into fists and released them in a split second. Like a robot with a glitch in its system, his gestures went on and on just like that, first his feet, then his hand, one after another, molding his motions into an almost mechanical loop.

Minutes after minutes passed by, then, with a long sigh, the boy raised his hand. He was about to bring it to the smooth surface of the metal door, giving a loud and clear knock, but then halted halfway.

Biting his lips, the shape shifter closed his eyes as he tried to face the turmoil of thoughts inside his head, doing his best to resolve it and got himself back to his right state of mind, but he just simply couldn't. His head seemed to have already split into two separate parts and they were currently at each other's throat, doing whatever possible to prove their point, sending waves after waves of headaches down his system.

He knew what he must do, but he just couldn't bring himself to.

After the first re-investigation failed, they tried to look things on the bright side and conduct another, then another, and another. They even phoned the police station so many times that the officer on the other line could no longer maintain his calm when the last call reached. But the result still remained the same, and they knew there was nothing they could do to alter it.

Robin's words might have shone a single ray of light upon them, and they desperately clung onto it for an escape from this dreadful darkness. They worked ten times harder, offered ten times the efforts of their last attempt, and yet, they couldn't even dig out just a single clue.

They had been trying to hold onto one slim thread of hope in order to keep things intact, to keep their life from cracking and shattering. Still, it seemed that it was the time they came to face with the truth now…

Beast Boy's head hung low as his fingers tightened into a fist, digging into his palm painfully even though he had on gloves. A part of him was quarreling with that idea, putting up a real fight, yelling that he shouldn't give up yet, yelling that there was probably still something he didn't see through, yelling that he should have faith in her no matter what.

As much as he wanted nothing more than to go with that, he couldn't.

He was a hero. And a hero's duty required him to stay by the side of the laws and take down everything that went against them.

That's why he's here, to tell Robin to just stop the vain attempt and refocus their attention on the sake of the city and thousands of citizens living safe and sound within it. They had their obligation, they must always consider it their first priority.

No matter how hurt it was…

Starfire had been driven to the edge of crumbling down. She had had a hard time keeping it together, and eventually yielded to the sadness and anguish eating her from inside out. Cyborg had taken her back to her room, while he head off to Robin's. It might be strenuous, it might be painful, it might even be impossible, but they must find a way to move on and put the team back together. They couldn't fail the city, and they couldn't fail justice.

Beast Boy's fang sank into his lips, his clenched fist began trembling as the options he could take weighed him down. Robin might be working on her case inside this room, doing all in his power to clear her name. The chance might be slim, but it didn't mean it had dropped to zero. Perhaps, together, if they tried hard enough, they could…

But they would turn their back on the laws, the city, justice, his principle of life, and all he had worked so hard to achieve…

A long sigh escaped Beast Boy's forlorn lips. His shoulder slumped with defeat as he bowed his head in a sullen manner. His clenched fist made its way toward the door and knocked onto it.

Only silence greeted him.

The shape shifter shook his head. He had anticipated that this would happen. Even Cyborg did, so he had given him the emergency code to enter Robin's office. They knew that invading their friend's room without permission like this wasn't really a pretty act, but they had run out of choice. And knowing Robin, when he had started believing that he had made the right decision, there was almost no way to convince him otherwise.

Beast Boy took a deep breath before punching in the code. The automatic door slid opened instantly, revealing a room dimly lit with one single light source at the center of the room. Bracing himself for the infuriated words that would be flying his way soon, the boy gingerly stepped into his leader office. He glanced around for a while, giving his eyes time to get accustomed to the thick layer of darkness here.

And then, he suddenly realized that there was simply no need to worry about dealing with his leader's rage anymore.

"Robin?"

Beast Boy asked out loud, turning his face from one direction to another, trying to catch a glimpse of the familiar traffic light colored uniform somewhere in the faintly illuminated room.

"Robin?"

He called out to his leader once more, but still received no response, or at least a single motion to show that the boy in question was actually here somewhere.

Robin was gone!

oOo

"Achoo!"

Robin's body suddenly hunched over as a big, if not ginormous sneeze exploded its way out of his mouth. With a puzzled look, the Boy Wonder swiped his thumb across his nose before placing the back of his palm on his forehead. No fever or cold detected. His temperature remained as usual as ever. And if his memory served him right, there was no record of him falling sick for the time being.

Or could it be…

His gaze shifted to somewhere behind him, and locked on the T-shaped high-rise that stood tall in the distance. Now, wasn't there a saying that whenever somebody missed or mentioned you so much, a sneeze would rack up your body?

This wasn't something he didn't see coming, though.

Naturally, after finding themselves lost so many times, they would learn that aside from accepting the truth, there was no other way, no matter how painful that truth could be. Their loyalty to justice ran so deep that they couldn't see anything but the pretty things on the surface of that façade. Perhaps it even blinded them too, leading them to believe that there was just one way to corner a problem, and anything besides it was considered a real sin.

They must have sought out for him, trying to convince him to just give up and see things the right way, to move on from the pain and try to uphold the laws as usual.

He didn't even know what to feel now. The ones he cherished more than anything on the world were now defending what he loathed more than anything on the world. And he couldn't blame them either. They were just like him back there, fooled and misled by their heroic nature.

That's why he had to take care of this case by himself. He couldn't confide in them anymore, not when he had seen how they reinvestigated Raven's case. They held no suspicion about whether any 'good guy' was behind the whole thing, and only set their eyes on the villains.

They might not be happy about him going solo this time, but if they knew the reason behind his decision, he's sure that they would understand.

Robin pondered to himself and then pushing the thoughts about his friends away. He had more important things to deal with now. His gaze lingered at the T-shaped tower for a mere second before shifting to a new spot. A cold glint flashed across his masked eyes as his lips twitched into a sly smirk. Finally, he had arrived at where he needed to be right in the first place.

The police station.

As the sight of the place entered his view, rage rushed through him instantly, boiling his blood and set his entire being afire as old, unwanted memories started unfolding themselves in front of his eyes once by once. But this time, he accepted the burning sensation with a glee. There was no point detesting the fury anymore, he had returned, and he would ensure that the bloody fate awaiting him was rewritten.

So let this scorching wrath gush through his vein, reminding him of every pain and sorrow he had been put through.

He wanted to imprint them all into his mind, memorizing even the tiniest part, not missing out a single thing.

His enemies were inside of this so-called symbol of justice, a lot of them, many than he could remember.

He wanted them all to pay for what they did. He wanted to deliver them the cruelest punishment he could think of. Whatever they did to him, to her, to his friends, he would pay them back at least ten times more.

And this rage derived from pure hatred would serve as an ideal feast for his inner demons, keeping them awake and roaring in the back of his mind - ready to break free and tear his enemies apart at his command.

The Boy Wonder thought with a smirk as he began advancing toward the building, passing past its gate and strode to its precinct. He stood tall and proud, taking confident steps, didn't bother to be on guard or anything like that. It wasn't that he believed he could take down anyone coming at him, he just found those actions… unnecessary.

He could remember it pretty well. About two days ago, the chief of police had informed the Titans that the entire force was in terrible shape, too many stresses and strains after a hectic working schedule had completely weighed everyone down. It appeared that the mayor also noticed this, so he had allowed most of them to take a few days off and go on a vacation. That 'thoughtful' man even booked a tour and made all the essential preparation. The chief gave them a sincere apology, saying that he knew it would be quite irresponsible to leave his job behind, but it would be blunt of them to turn down the mayor's offer, especially when everything had all been arranged.

Robin wasn't really pleased with that. Still, the chief promised that a few of his men would still stay behind to keep an eye on the city. Plus, crime rate had dropped considerably, so it's not likely that anything out of hand would take place while they're away.

Despite his suspicion for the abrupt department of almost every police in the city, Robin had agreed to cover their duty during their trip. It was his obligation to take care of the city, so it wasn't like he had many choices left. What's more, with the depression eating the team from inside out back there and him being down in the dumps, he didn't feel like arguing with the chief or the mayor about leaving them in charge of all the law upholding for days.

Now that he thought of it, that keeping-stress-at-bay vacation was obviously just an excuse. Ruth just wanted to get rid of all the people that could disrupt his plan, and threw more work onto his team so that none of them had enough time on hand to be aware of anything amiss. Even an idiot could tell that those "willingly" to not take part in the trip and remained in the station to maintain society order were just that old fox's underlings.

But this could be a good thing.

If the worst was to come, he could go all out without hesitation!

A dark, twisted glee filled his heart and Robin's lips slightly tugged upward, but it soon fell back into a straight line as he passed through the threshold of the main office. Keeping his expression as cool and neutral as possible, the Boy Wonder advanced toward the only table occupied by someone in the broad room. Upon hearing his footsteps, that very man lowered the newspapers he was holding. His bald head, along with a thick bear, was the first thing entering Robin's sight.

As expected, an old acquaintance.

"Robin." Exclaimed the man as his voice somewhat went up a notch in surprise. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yeah. My teammate, Raven, would be transferred to another facility tomorrow, right?" He scratched his head and casted his sight elsewhere but the policeman's face, keeping his voice hoarse and tired, mimicking the act of someone burdened under stress, despair and sorrow for a long time. Still, his cold orbs silently darted to the corners of his masked eyes to lock on the bald man himself, never broke the contact even just for a split second, like a predator eyeing its prey before moving in for the kill.

"Yeah, sorry man, this must be very hard for you. I can't even imagine what you have to go through these days."

The older man's voice was filled with sympathy and sincerity, no hint of malice or sick joy could be detected. However, as he finished, Robin could see that in a flash, the corner of his lips lifted up as something atrocious and vile crept into his eyes. He discarded them and returned to the kind, solicitous man with a sympathetic smile spread across his lower face almost instantly. If he was still that foolish Boy Wonder, maybe this would have already moved him, but right now, Robin just wanted to throw himself into that sick bastard and tore that insufferable hypocritical mask off his face. Rage was building up inside him once more, pouring every corner of his body with a seething desire, making it impossible for him to keep a cool temper.

Still, Robin silently ground his teeth together and dug his fingers to his palm, and with all his mental strength, he pushed the burning fury back to its chamber before locking the door tightly to make sure they stay in place. He would have use of them soon, but not now.

"Thank, we're trying our best to get back to our tip-top shape. The city needs us, and Raven…" Robin bowed his head, pretending to be someone eaten alive by pain and sorrow. Once he knew his face and expression was completely obscured from the view, he instantly let out a long breath, trying to emptying out a part of his anger. He had to play it cool. He couldn't raise any suspicion now.

"Well, it's just that…" He stammered before trailing off: "Can… can I see her at least one last time? I want to talk to her."

Come on. Come on. Bite it. Bite the bait.

"Sure, why not?" The bald man shrugged, offering him another seemingly generous smile: "Right this way, follow me."

Waiting until the police completely had his back to him, Robin finally lifted his head. That went as smoothly as he predicted. The bastard suspected nothing. Well, as far as he remembered, this one wasn't really that intelligent, just a mere inferior lackey that played no important role and could be replaced at any time, so he wasn't all that surprised.

Letting him meet her wasn't an act out of kindness either. They just wanted to earn his trust, leading him to believe that they were by his side and would always offer him their support every time he needed. And this wasn't for nothing. Once he showed no caution around them, eventually, his team would do the same.

Right from the start, they were aiming for this all along.

Robin could never forget how close the Titans and some personnel of the police force got closer and closer after Raven's unfortunate case. They could be considered friends at some points. The smiling, sympathetic, amiable masks all sealed up these bastards' true color pretty well. He didn't doubt anything. His friends didn't doubt anything. Even when he started noticing something wrong, those sincere, cordial smiles would instantly kick the idea off his mind.

Still, this time, he's afraid he had to let them down.

Robin could be deceived and led astray by those fake gestures. But he wasn't Robin anymore.

"Thank you, mister. I really appreciate that."

Letting a coy smile curved up the corner of his lips, his cold eyes shielded by the domino masks, the Boy Wonder replied the bald officer. The older man completely suspected nothing, and just simply returned him with a smaller smile before reaching into his belt to grasp something there.

"Oh, and you can just call me Morrow. We're all friends here, right?"

Robin just nodded, acknowledging the information. Unbeknown to the man, his brain had started kicking into high gear. Morrow, huh? Back there, when he was on the hunt to satisfy his thirst for vengeance, in his hiding spot, sometimes, this name did flash across his mind. It seemed that despite the gap between the gap of their status, this little lackey could somehow befriend one of those big guys.

His eyes narrowed for a split second. He could put this into good use later.

"Ah, found it!" Morrow exclaimed, pulling a black access card. He then gestured toward the door nearby: "Let me show you the way."

Robin silently followed the man and was led into a long corridor with no window or whatsoever. He wasn't surprised though. As the leader of the Titan, having access to area like this was no longer something out of the blue. This is merely a connection path between the office and the main prison of the place. Due to this, the entrance had been designed with top security. There is only one single door, and aside from access card, anyone wanting to enter must display their fingerprint. One single mismatch, or any sign of intrusion, and the alarm would blare throughout the entire building.

This was why he decided not to break in. He didn't like taking the hard way when there was an easy path around.

And why did he entered the prisoner's chamber when he had decided to track down Raven's transportation?

Something just didn't sit right with that.

It started with just a slight feeling, but then it got stronger and stronger, until his stomach began churning with knots and his mind kept yelling at him to stand up and do something. That's when he knew his plan had gone deadly wrong. After all, his hunch had never failed him before.

Something bad had befallen his girl. He could tell.

Robin kept his face straight and his expression blank as he strolled next to a completely oblivious Morrow who was still spouting nonsense words about justice and what right and wrong. He never replied, only gave a curt nod at some points in order not to raise any suspicion. His younger self might be touched by these kinds of act, but he only felt an urge to empty out his breakfast onto the floor.

They crossed a series of hallways, walking past sectors with high-tech equipment located everywhere, then a block of cells which were used to hold regular prisoners capture, followed by the specially designed areas whose purposes were to keep the notorious villains from breaking free.

"They're unusually quiet today." Robin commented nonchalantly, stealing a glance at one of the shut gate. His eyes slightly narrowed as he realized there was nobody occupying the space behind it.

"Oh, our security needs some improvement, so the prisoners are temporarily relocated to a different sector." Morrow replied him with a shrug, failed to notice the dark expression lingered on the Boy Wonder's feature. "The others are out to do some supervising there. You know those criminals, always up for troubles."

"Is that so?" The younger boy muttered, casting his gaze sideway as though observing the view of the area. His teeth sank into his lower lip as the bad feeling overwhelming his other senses began to grow with no sign of stopping.

They passed another maze of hallways, and eventually reach a distinguished sector where everything was constructed using abnormal material, some kind of metal that dimly reflected the images of everybody walking by. No furniture or equipment of all sorts could be spotted here. Windows and air vents were also out of sight. The entire area resembled that of the inside of a ginormous, metallic square box, and would have already turned into that had it not been for a heavy door at its furthest corner.

Robin knew this place. Only the most dangerous criminal with the ability to wipe out the entire city would be kept here.

"Is she in there?"

He licked his lips, surprised at how hoarse his voice had already turned into. Half of his mind was howling for him to strangle the bald bastard in an instance and forced the truth out from his throat, saving him all kinds of troubles that might come next. But the other half was pleading for him to control his temper and keep his anger at bay for she could be in there for real and him going berserk out there would only land her in more risks.

And Robin was caught between the fight.

"Yeah. You're sure you can do this, man? You don't look so good."

"I'm fine." The Boy Wonder replied, trying to pull himself free from the grasps of all kinds of emotions screaming and kicking inside his mind: "I need to see her. Just open the gate."

His voice was cold, deadly cold, and Morrow seemed to be taken aback by that. The bastard still complied with his request nonetheless, taking out another key card and inserted it into a seemingly complex equipment right next to the enormous shut gate. A second passed by, and then the metallic door eventually glided opened, giving Robin a clear look of the room hidden behind it.

"Raven?"

A startled, shaky breath made its way out of his lips as his eyes took in for the first time the image of a small girl lying prone on the small bed within the chamber. Her hair, like a strange species of dandelion, mesmerizing and enticing with that unique shade of violet, scattered around her head, drop onto the pillow and fell down onto her face. Just like blooming flower. Each exotic violet lock resembled a beautiful petal itself.

He always loved her short hair, but after the tragedy, she no longer kept it shoulder length anymore.

Robin took a deep breath, couldn't stop his hands from trembling anymore. She was here. She was real.

_His innocent Raven_

The girl turned to face him. A pair of vivid, exquisite violet jewels bored into his masked eyes, and his breath was caught in his breath. For a while, time seemed to have stopped, and there were only two of them left in the world. Her eyes had pulled him into a trance, immersing him in a deep yet soothing river where he just wanted to rest within forever, never to get up again.

And then, her little, pretty plump lips spoke as a sardonic smirk twitched them up.

"Oh, isn't this the walking traffic light?"

_What?_

The words directly sent a blow to Robin's face, shattering all of his fantasy and roughly kicked him back to the real world. He stood there, shocked and dumbfounded, unable to digest what she had just spoken. Raven still lay there in a lazy pose, glancing up at him with that taunting smirk and a somewhat vexatious gaze as though the sight of him put her off.

The thought froze him right in his spot. He didn't get it. Could it be that she was mad at him for abandoning her?

"Raven…"

"Oh, don't give me that." She rolled her eyes, shifting her pose and probed her head up in one hand. Her squinted eyes pierced right through him as a spiteful snorted made its way out of her lips: "Why are you here anyway? Just when I thought I have finally had some time alone."

_What?_

The rest of his line died on his tongue before it could reach out to her, perished and vanished into thin air. He stood there, completely dumbfounded, couldn't believe in his own ears.

"What're you waiting for, just get out of my sight?" She went on, sending him an annoyed glance as her monotone voice turned spiteful: "I'm so sick and tired of you. Why did you come here for, anyway? To blabber those nonsense about justice and all? Seriously, I have had enough of that!" A scorned chuckle escaped her pretty plump lips, the plump lips that used to whisper gentle, soothing words to him in his most desperate nights.

It was just a piece of sound, nothing more, nothing less, but somehow, it was like a sharp dagger to him, mercilessly stabbing through his heart.

It couldn't be… His Raven… How…

His mind almost collapsed as shock overtook his system right in the spot. Had it not been for his entire body being sent into a stupor, unable to move a muscle, he was sure he would have fallen hard onto the floor in an instance. He could no longer think straight anymore, everything within his brain had already been reduced into total pitch black, a black hole that swallowed everything within him.

"Raven… You…"

"I told you to stop calling my name, God Damnit!" Out of sudden, the said girl slammed a fist down onto the mattress as anger and impatience began lingering on the edge of her voice: "I'm tired of your shit! Fucking get lost and leave me alone."

_No_

"Are you fucking deaf or something? Can't you understand a single word I just said?"

_It couldn't be_

"I never really like you to begin with. Just the image of you make me wanna puke."

_Stop, just stop_

"I hate it all, you know. Your stupid hair style, your stupid endless training, I detest you!"

_No, just stop, just stop. It couldn't be real_

A shaky breath left his thin lips, leaving a stinging ache behind. Somehow his throat had already run dry as though he had been wandering on a desert without water for days. His legs couldn't support his weight anymore, and he staggered, nearly collapsed had his reflexes not kicked in in time.

His Raven… The girl he cared about more than anything on the world… was going on and on about how she loathed him…

How could it be…

"…And your morning ritual, fuck, how can you pour that disgusting coffee down your throat all the time. What was I even thinking back there? How could I enjoy that shitty liquid with you?"

Robin's eyes went wide as his breath was caught in his throat. For a while, he even thought that his heart was about to come to a halt. His startled eyes fell on the girl for a while, perplexed and full of wonder, as if trying to figure out her for the first time. Then, out of sudden, his lips were pulled together into a thin, emotionless line, and the nonstop trembling of his limbs ceased. He straightened his back, and bored his gaze into the girl on the bed, as though wanting to tear through her soul and stole a look at whatever inside.

"Wha… What the Hell are you staring at?" The violet-haired young woman howled out with blazing eyes, but couldn't hide the fear lurking in the depth of her orbs. She instinctively shrunk and scooted a few inches back from her place, obviously unnerved by his sudden change.

"Nothing. I'll take my leave as you wish." The response she received almost froze her to the bone. There was nothing in his voice, no alteration in pitch, no emotion, nothing. It was cold as the ice pulling from the depth sea of the Arctic itself. A wave of chill ran down her spine, and before she even knew it, her back had already hit the wall while she had her legs pulled as closely to her body as possible. When… when did she even sit up?

"But first… You will have to tell me something first." He closed the distance between her and him with one single long step, and she flinched without acknowledging it. Somehow, she had a feeling that she was being wrapped in the length of a long and ravenous python. The clutch got tighter and tighter second by second, it was becoming hard for her to breathe…

"Not bad." A grasp of steel suddenly encased her chin, earning a gasp from the petrified, cornered girl. Her entire body broke out in cold sweat, and fear began flooding her eyes with no end in sight. She couldn't move even when she urged her body, the fear had already paralyzed her system.

His gaze pierced right through her as he shortened the distance between her terrified face and his unbelievably calm one. Tension started rising between them, getting thick enough that it could be torn from the air if anyone reached out their hand.

"Robin. You're sure things are all right? You seem like you need help!"

Morrow. Good timing. He almost forgot about that bald bastard.

A chilling chuckle suddenly spilled from his lips, cracking a devious smirk upon his good-looking feature. The girl watched him in total silence, didn't have the bravery to utter a single word. She had a feeling that the moment anything coming out of her trembling lips, it would truly be the end of her.

"AH!"

A shocked, painful yelp poured from her agape mouth as Robin forcefully wiped her head to the right with an inhuman strength enough to break her jaw into half. He repeated, pulling her to the left this time, squeezing her cheeks so hard that bruises started settling in. She terrifyingly stole a glance at him, pleading for mercy, but only met a cold set of masks staring back at her, the eyes hidden underneath it filled with so menace and malice that it could burn her alive.

"Robin! That's enough!"

Footsteps echoing behind him, indicating that Morrow was approaching. Didn't even bother turning back and acknowledging that fact, the Boy Wonder swung his free hand up. In a split second, the bald officer howled out in sheer agony, his entire body hit the ground with a heavy thud. It appeared that the man had his head banged pretty hard because he was out cold in an instance.

The immobile girl had her view obscure by the well-built frame of the Titan leader, but this didn't mean she saw nothing. With her eyes wide opened in pure terror and air coming out of her lungs in shaky, ragged breaths, she had her eyes locked on the motionless body of the big guy in the background.

Something was buried deep inside his thigh, and blood was gushing from it freely, slowly damped the floor beneath with a deep red liquid.

She couldn't stop her body from shaking right now. She didn't want to look at the disturbing scene of somebody bleeding all over the place, but she didn't want to avert her gaze either. She couldn't.

Because if she just glance away just for a second, she would have to meet his eyes.

"Not bad." He repeated the words as he inched even closer to her, his wicked smirk was so wide that for a while, she believed that he was about to clamp his mouth over her head and swallow her whole. Underneath his cold, sinister masked eyes, she felt that there was nothing she could hide, and that he was seeing through her deepest, darkest secrets.

This was really the leader of the Titans?

Impossible! This was clearly a malign monster!

"Look just like the real deal." Another chuckle made its way out of his thin lips as he shook his head: "I have to admit, you almost got me back there."

His grip was dangerously tightening around her jaw now, to the point that she believe it could crack at any moment. Her heart thumped loudly in her ribcage and her entire being slowly got swallowed by fear, but she still tried to stand her ground:

"Are you fucking crazy? Let go, you're hurting me!"

"Crazy?" A bone-chilling snicker crawled into her ears, making all her hair stood up. She didn't dare to look into his eyes right now, no, just one glance and she knew she would never be able to sleep at night.

"You think this is crazy?" His voice suddenly turned dangerously low as venom dripping from it relentlessly: "I'll show you what is crazy."

She never got the chance to see what happened next. It all took place in a flash. Her head being forcefully moved backward at inhuman speed, agony spread through her system, stars clouded her vision as some sort of foul-smelling, sticking liquid trickled down her face. And then reality finally caught up to her, and she screamed…

Only to have her panicked sound muffled by the mattress as he slammed her down onto it and wrapped the sheet bundled at the end of the bed around her body. Before she knew it, she had already been tightly encased in the white layer of fabric from head to toes! It wasn't thick, but she found herself unable to tear through it, or to thrash her way out of it. She shrieked, attempting to call for help, but something hard suddenly jammed into her cheek, and she was forced to cough out a mouthful of blood.

Robin stood, watching the girl thrashed around in vain. Mercilessly, he grabbed the pillow and stuffed it within her widely opened mouth, pressing both the object and a large part of the sheet deep inside her throat. Hadn't truly satisfied yet, he located her neck through the white fabric and lifted her up before throwing her body onto the ground with all his might. A choke sob emitted from her movement restricted form as she doubled over and writhed painfully.

Not even a trait of sympathy could be detected from Robin's expression as he narrowed his masked eyes and again kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying and crashed onto the opposite wall.

He wanted to see her crying face as she crawled pathetically on four while taking on all the punishments. But he couldn't.

Not when she looked so much like his Raven.

He was such a fool. He fell right into their trap.

Raven wasn't in the room right in the first place. Instead, they left this impostor here to fake him out, to fool him, to make him believe that she truly hated him with all she got, to kill all his hopes in rescuing her.

He had to admit, that little bitch did a fairly good job. For a while, he almost fell for her words. He almost sank into depression as they wanted him to. But then she mentioned their "coffee time" together, and that instantly pushed him back to the right state of mind.

Raven never drank coffee, not even once, especially not with him. She hated coffee even more than she hated going out without her cloak. There was no way she could enjoy it. Everybody in the Tower knew this.

Those bastards… They knew that she wouldn't say no to any question from the police force, they must have taken advantage of that to extract her personal information, and then let the impostor took her place. Nobody would be able to tell them apart. This one resembled her almost 99%, had it not been for that coffee detail, he would have been fooled too.

But why would they need an impostor? They couldn't possibly know that he…

His face suddenly went pale and his heart plummeted to the depth of his stomach as the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

_How long had the impostor been here?_

Raven… No… No… It couldn't be… He couldn't be too late, he couldn't…

His gaze suddenly lifted and bored right to the two figure lying unconscious not too far from his spot, one with a knife embed in his left thigh and the other had her body wrapped in a red-stained sheet. He could see his chest heaved up and down, but faintly, which made him let out a sigh of relief.

He didn't feel sorry for them, not even a bit, but if they died, his hopes to save his precious girl would perish alongside.

A growl squeezed its way out of his tightly clenched teeth as he stormed toward them, fire of fury dancing in his dark, menacing eyes.

He had planned to play in the dark for a while and only showed his true colors if the time arrived.

But they really pissed him off this time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The room was cold, that was the first thing springing to Raven's mind as she came to. She didn't even know whether this was a room or not, the material she sprawled on somewhat gave solid proof to that since it appeared to be smooth and flat – just like what's made of any common floor, but for all she knew, she could be on the top of a board or a rock in the middle of nowhere. Still, she didn't dare to open her eyes and found out which assumption was correct.

The cold licked at her face and her skin, slipping through her clothes and flooded into her blood and vein, pushing heat out of her system and took over their places. Thankfully, the condition wasn't too severe, and despite the fact that the warmth in her flesh was gradually being swallowed by the biting cold, her body could still reproduce enough heat to balance her temperature.

The headache had long vanished from her mind and her conscious had eventually managed to get rid of all the sluggish or hazy feeling. The blast did a number to her, leading the dark girl unable to function normally for a while. Raven was well aware of that. So, she did her best to keep a rein on the panic urging her eyes to open and her feet to move away. She knew full well that she was captured. But she also understood that in her current state, she had no way to escape or to defeat whoever keeping her here.

So she did the only thing reasonable at the moment, doing her best to refrain herself from freaking out and let the exhaustion washed her back to sleep once more.

When she woke up for the second time, her head had become somewhat better, at least the head-splitting ache didn't linger anymore. A bit of her energy had returned, and she didn't feel like an invalid anymore. Raven knew she could take off running, but she held that need down. As much as she hated to admit it, she was in no condition to fight anyone, let alone find an escape from a place that she was clueless about. And now she had to take on both? Had it not been for her dire situation, Raven would have let out a bitter laugh. Fat chance!

So, she just did the only thing she could at the moment, she lay there. Just kept her eyes closed, and lay there, acting like she was in a trance. It might not be able to get her out of this place, but at least it could keep her safe. Who knew? Maybe at a certain corner of the place, a maniac was watching her with an insane glint in their eyes, waiting for her to wake up so that they could finish her off while she struggled?

Her power was disabled at the moment, she had to way to fight back if such thing actually took place. If nobody lay a finger on her while she was asleep the whole time, they had no reason to do that now. Raven knew they were waiting for her to open her eyes. That was what sick psycho always did, so that they could enjoy their prey's fear and despair as they moved in for the kill.

Raven didn't want to act like a stupid, incapable damsel in distress, but she was no fool either. If moving and running right now might lead to her head being severed from her neck, her preference would still be taking the role of that damsel, mind you.

One second.

One minute.

Perhaps one hour had gone passed since she made that decision. She still lay there, in the same position that shaped her body and limbs ever since she woke up. Nobody came, not even a single sound reached her ears. Fighting back the urge to frown, Raven began wondering if anybody was actually here with her, and considered whether she should sit up and examine her surroundings.

As her eyes slowly opened, footsteps suddenly echoed from a distance not so far from where she was, followed by the creaking noise of an opening door.

Immediately, her eyelids clenched shut. Raven steadied her breaths, trying not to show anyone entering the room that she was fully awoke.

"Man, the idiots back there didn't bang her up so bad, right? She should be up by now."

Loud voices cutting through the silence she had got used to like a knife gliding through a piece of butter, completely shattered the isolated feature of the place. Raven didn't move even a muscle, but trains after trains of thoughts were running all over her mind, making it almost impossible for her to put on the blank facial expression of an unconscious person.

So she was in a room after all. And by the look of the chilling atmosphere haunting the whole area like a persistent ghost, she could tell that it had remained unused for quite a long time.

Resisting the urge to frown due to being loaded with so many questions at a time, Raven tried to locate the source of sounds. From her spot, she noticed that all of them, though seemingly dispersed in the air due to the distance between her and them, were all emitting from her right.

_So that was where the entrance lay_

Quietly noted to herself, the powerless sorceress remained still, picking on the sounds of footsteps as they approached her closer and closer every second passed by. Her mind was running with lightning speed, trains after trains of thoughts racing across her head. _One. Two. Three. Four. Five._ The gap between her and the sound of footsteps was now narrowed enough and she could somewhat pinpoint the number of people in the room right now. But this was just her speculation. There could be more, or less.

Still, no matter what, they had her outnumbered.

How could she rush to the exit without getting caught?

Raven knew she had heard the creaking noise of door opening, though faintly. Yet, she didn't hear any closing or locking sound. This meant she still had a chance. All she had to do is to use it well. She had no idea why she was here, and she was just as clueless about her captors' identities. But she would have to figure that out later. Right now, her priority was to get out.

"How the Hell should I know? Let's just come and take a look."

"She'd better not be dead. I have no intention of toying with a corpse tonight."

"Her chest's moving, you dickhead!"

Voice. Low. High. All kinds. But masculine. And young, too.

Men.

She was alone, in a cold, seemingly abandoned room in a place only God knew where, and a group of men was closing up on her. Only the thought was enough to make her stomach churn with knots and her skin crawl uncomfortably. A wave of chill crept down her spine as some disturbing, unspeakable thought popped up in her head. As she recollected her memory about the final thing fell into her eyes and ears within the cell, she had a very vivid idea of what was about to happen. And she knew that it wouldn't be anywhere near pretty.

The footsteps were getting too close to her liking now. Raven pursed her lips, at this rate, they would reach her soon, and then there went her only chance to escape.

So she did the only thing she could think of at the moment, she shot up right from her spot and threw her body backward until she hit the wall behind, forming a considerable gap between her and the newcomers.

As she tried pressing herself as close as she could to the concrete, she saw the men stiffened in shock, obviously didn't expect her sudden outburst. Still, that made them halt their track, and the dark girl inwardly let out a sigh of relief. She gave her body a brief glance, and silently thanked God that her orange prisoner uniform, though stained with dirt and dust, had not been changed or removed. Nobody had actually touched her.

In front of her were, just like her prediction, 5 men forming a half circle around her, cutting all the paths that she could flee to. They all had on a simple black triangle masks resembling blocks of metal shielding their eyes, so Raven had no idea who they could possibly be. Raven quietly bit her lips, panic began settling in the depth of her heart, but she held it down and kept it there, stopping it from spreading all over her body. This was no time to let her fear get the best of her.

Her soon-to-be attackers soon snapped out of their daze, and slowly, a lecherous smirks tugged their lips upward as they leered at her as if she was just a piece of meat. Raven swallowed hard. She knew she couldn't win if they jump at her, she stood no chance. The disadvantage in number aside, two of those lechers were as least two times larger than her in size!

"Don't be afraid, we just want to play."

"Yeah, with that tight little ass of yours…"

They all cracked in to laughter at the lewd sentence, obviously amused by it. Raven's expression contorted in pure disgust. Some of them licked their lips, depravity dripping from those nonstop as they again drew nearer to her. Even with her power gone and their eyes hidden by the masks, she could still grasp that their rotten minds were loaded with ill intention and the desire to perform unspeakable things to her, and their eyes were filled with nothing but hunger. The thought made her want to vomit. A flash of fear crossed her eyes as waves after waves of chills crawled up on her spine. But she quickly hid them behind a façade of calm and composure.

She couldn't let them know that they had got to her, that would only notify them that they had got the upper hand, and shortening her possibilities of escape.

Her violet orbs urgently darted around the room, locating the exit which was just a few meters from her spot, and she could easily make a run to it if she could somehow shake these bastards off her. But how? The violet-haired girl bit her lips, her clenched hands drenched with sweats. They were getting too close now…

And then she noticed a light bulb dangling above her, emitting dim light. It was the only source of Illumination in the small room, and it was completely within reach. As her eyes landed upon the group of lustfully grinning men, she spotted a smart phone sticking out from one's pocket.

A plan suddenly popped up within her mind, too sketchy and risky that if this was in another situation, she would have already scolded herself for coming up with something so, so stupid.

But she had no other option now.

She had to try her luck!

Raven leaned against the wall in her most casual manner, crossing her arms across her chest and let a victorious smirk dance upon her lips, ignoring the fact that her heart was beating so hard that it would soon break her ribcage and jumped out onto the ground. Her back was damped with sweats, and she had to muster all her strength to keep her legs from shaking and her fear from flooding into her expressions.

"You idiots." She chuckled, pushing a lock of violet hair behind her back: "Five brains combined and you couldn't realize this had been a trap all along?"

Despite the straight face she put on, her mind was drowned in a sea of apprehension and fear right now. Not fear for the situation she was in, but fear for her plan's possibility of success. If they didn't bite the bait, she was done for. She knew she was done for.

And a sense of relief, though faint, rushed through her like a soothing stream of warm water as her soon-to-be assailants' expression melted from cocky and depraved to shocked and confused. Raven tightened her fists, suppressing her arising anxiety and fear before straightening her back and squared her shoulders. Her words had got to them, she had to take well use of this opportunity.

"You… You're lying." One of the men exclaimed, turning to his companions as his voice somewhat turned frantic: "There's no way they saw this coming. She's just pulling our legs."

"Nice try, little girl, but that won't work on us." The one next to him chuckled, but Raven could notice that skepticism and apprehension had already begun flooding his voice. She bit her lips and narrowed her eyes. Somewhere deep inside them, they were still wary of her, her ability, and the fact that she was a hero who had put countless criminals behind the bars. She could tell this. Her power might not be here anymore, but that didn't mean she was no longer Raven. And cowering before Raven was simply just an instinctual act of those low-life scum.

She had better hurry up before they regained themselves and remembered that she was no longer that undefeatable sorceress.

"And why would I have to do that?" She took one step forward and put one hand on her hips, doing her best to keep her gesture as natural and casual as possible. The pressure and worry the current situation snowed her under had drained all the liquid from her throat and lips, leaving them as dry as the desert, but she didn't dare to moist them with her tongue as that might raise suspicion.

"You really think that I would be taken down this easily?" She let out a cold and harsh snarl, her monotone voice dripping with conviction and sarcasm – Just like what she always did when facing a certain enemy. "Defeated by a mere group of insignificant guards with pathetic ammunitions? After all the times you have seen me out in the field, you really expected that such stupid objects were enough to beat me?"

Their bodies went rigid, and their fingers nervously clenched into fists, or around whatever items they were holding, which didn't go unnoticed by Raven. She might have not been able to summon her magic right now, but that didn't change the fact that she was an empath. Years of living with that exceptional ability had trained her mind and eyes to pick on people's gestures and behaviors as they were immersed in certain emotions. Even when she could no longer sense anything, she could almost precisely see through their emotions by observing the way they acted.

The patterns were always similar no matter what.

Sparkling eyes and an excited expression manifested joy and happiness

Inner corners of the eyebrows jerked upward, leaving wrinkles all over the forehead and lips shaped into a downward curve indicated despondency.

Clear voice and a straight posture expressed utter confidence.

And… stiffened muscles, uncomfortable exchanging of glances, sudden halts in movements were evidence of skepticism and growing anxiety.

What's more, anxiety led to temporary declining in logical thinking and thought aligning, rendering a person unable to concentrate on anything but the cause of their fretfulness. They would try to pull it together and regain their composure. Still, the apprehension had already rooted deep into their mind, and would remain there even when they did everything in their power to shake it off as long as they couldn't come up with a proper explanation for their worry.

Tension began arising in the air, and the men circling Raven could no longer put on a straight face as the information she just informed them sank into the depth of their head and wrap around their mind like a stubborn snake, menacing and dangerous, awaiting for the perfect opportunity to bury its sharp fangs into their vein, ending them completely. From her spot, the violet-haired girl could see that sweats had already rolled down their foreheads and cheeks as if it was raining inside the room, and their teeth repeatedly chewed on their lower lips. Her heart was racing, fast and loud as thunder, to the point that she started to fear that her assaulters would be able to hear it and realize that she was lying. A drop of sweat fell from her fingers and touched the ground, only then did Raven noticed that her hand had become so drenched that everything she grasped would slip from her grip instantly.

The air had grown as brittle as though it could snap any second, and the stressful atmosphere was weighing down on her body, infiltrating her system, running through her blood, making it hard for her to maintain the calm-and-collect mask.

But she ignored the fear and anxiety screaming inside her, and did everything in her power to ensure that her composure didn't break. She said nothing, just stood there, letting her emotionless and stoic gaze bore into their mind, and a sardonic smirk danced on her pale lips. There was no need for any word right now, the best way to deal with them is to let the anxiety grew and grew…

Until it became panic, and until the atmosphere became so suffocating that hardly anyone can breathe here.

"You… you are bluffing!" In the end, one seemed to be unable to handle the situation anymore, and hollered out. He tried to act tough, try to show that her trick couldn't do anything to him, but his ragged breath and trembling voice had indicated otherwise. "She's bluffing! If this has been their plan all along, her stupid friends would have got here by now."

Again, all eyes were on her now. Suspicion, anger, skepticism, disquiet, all kinds of emotions in their gaze pierce through her, as if trying to punch a hole through her soul. Raven's heart almost leapt to her throat for one second, and her stomach was churning with knots, but her face still remained as calm as a lake's surface.

"Yeah, about that." She spoke. Her voice was as monotone and cold and distant as ever, no trait of fear could be detected. "Why don't you just turn back and see for yourself who is standing there?" She averted her gaze, focusing on somewhere behind the group of men, and decided to finally play her trump card:

"Perfect timing, guys. What took you so long?"

She could see the blood drained from the men's face in a split second as their bodies tensed up in alarm. Even when their eyes were carefully shielded behind the glasses-like masks, it didn't take her long to realize that their orbs had probably stretched up as wide as the size of tennis balls as sheer astonishment laced with terror knocked into them.

In a flash, they all wiped their head backward, expecting to see a group of young heroes barging into the room and mercilessly knocked them onto the cold, hard floor before slapping them in handcuffs.

But against their anticipation, only silence and a dark, empty room greeted them.

Nobody was here but them…

And the girl they cornered.

"Shit!" Realization of what was truly occurring hit them like a ton of bricks. Some of them tore their attention away from the vacant space ahead and back to their main concern - the dark heroine who was supposed to be powerless, rendered into all but a damsel in distress.

Still, as they turned back, out of nowhere, a thick sheet of dust came at them and smashed into their face, infiltrating their nose and stung their vision. And they had no choice but to hunched over and sneezed with all they got to remove the itchy dust from their respiratory system.

Raven wasted no time as she leaped into the air and smashed her knee into the man with the tablet-like object sticking out of his belt with all her strength, earning her a satisfactory crack and a croak of pain in return, and the dark girl knew that she had managed to break his nose. A small smirk lit up her normally emotionless expression, but now wasn't the moment for celebration.

Silently thanked all the forces in the world for letting her wake up in a nearly abandoned room with nothing but dust and dust everywhere, or else she wouldn't have been able to carry out her plan this smoothly, Raven gripped the tablet and with a sharp tug, yanked it out of its previous spot. She eyed the man holding his face in utter agony before swung her leg up and hit him square in the groin with no hesitation!

A shrill shriek reverberated around the 4 walls of the room. The unfortunate man collapsed onto the floor with a heavy thud, clutching his wounded part and doubled over, sobbing his heart out.

Raven didn't even feel even just a slight sense of guilt for the casualty she had brought upon him. She might be a hero, but this didn't mean she was a pure-hearted goddess who always believed that things could be solved with kindness and compassion. No. She admitted that killing and destroying life were unacceptable, and her ethical standard as well as duty of a hero would never allow her to sink to that level.

Still, she wouldn't forgive anyone that dared to mess with her.

Indeed, all life mattered no matter what.

But some people just wouldn't realize that, and they start going around and toying with the others' life. In this case, some lessons just simply need to be delivered.

And if mere words couldn't do much in knocking any sense to them, perhaps action would!

Especially if that very person was a potential insane rapist on the loose.

After all, stopping and destroying the bad guys' plans was also an important mission of a hero.

"You little whore…"

Hasty footsteps emitted from her right, and Raven tilted her head to that direction, only to see a well-built man stumbling toward her, obviously was still affected by the dust she tossed at them earlier. He growled, then coughed loudly, and proceeded to jump at her.

Raven only responded with one long step forward, and, with all the strength she could muster, swung the metallic object she had in hands straight at the man's forehead! He let out a roar of pain and staggered a good feet backward before tripping and fell ass over teakettle, groaning as he tried to pick himself up.

Raven bit her lips, she couldn't afford to let any second fly by anymore. Soon, all of them would recover, and she would stand no chance if they all struck at once. She needed to act fast!

Jumping aside to avoid a sneezing tall figure dashing toward her as an attempt to knock her onto the ground, Raven stole one last look at the entrance, pinpointing its precise location. Then, she darted her eyes to the spot where the light bulb was innocently hanging, illuminating the dark room with its soft golden light.

Fire seemed to have lit up her violet eyes as the sorceress pursed her lips, and threw the tablet she had extracted from the man's belt there with all her might.

The sounds of shattering glass echoed all over the room as the light bulb was violently smashed into shards and plummeting onto the floor. Within a flash, the light vanished, swallowed by the shadows lurking in every corner of the room, and a pitch-black curtain casted over the entire place.

Ignoring the gasps and shouts of surprise from her assaulters, Raven was about to dash out of the place, but then something caught her attention, and she stopped right in her track.

The thing that she had used to destroy the only source of light in the room turned out to be a real tablet after all. And now, it was lying on the floor with a faintly glowing screen. It seemed that the brutal landing had somehow applied force on the item's power button, turning it on. And Raven's eyes grew wide when she caught sight of whatever it was showing. The impact had done a number on the tablet as cracks and black dots were running all over its screen like a spider web at the moment, but she could vaguely see lines of different applications displayed there.

_They didn't set any password for it._

Maybe she would be able to extract some useful information from that very item.

With that, didn't even bother to reconsider the idea as she always did before deciding on anything, Raven immediately reached out for the tablet and gripped it tightly in her slender fingers. There was no time to spare right now. She needed to get out of this room first. Every other thing could wait.

Raven pursed her lips, and, with the greatest speed she could force upon her legs, bolting out of the place through the exit she had got a fix on earlier. She could hear grunts of anger as the men stumbling in the dark became aware of her true intention, and started chasing after her.

But the girl had already got out of the room that would soon turn into her worst nightmare if her wit had not come to her rescue in time. Didn't even dare to slow down and took a breath, Raven hastily slammed the door shut tight. It was as heavy as Hell, and she winced as her muscles were almost torn in the process. Still, this still evoked a sense of relief inside her, as this could buy her a couple of minutes before her assaulters burst out and started going after her.

But what should she do now? Where should she run off to?

Raven wiped her head from back to forth, from left to right, biting her lips so hard that the metallic taste of blood faintly intruded her mouth when her teeth punched a hole through her pale skin. Fighting back the urge to let panic take over her body, she shot her gaze to the further end of the hallway ahead of her. The illuminating here was awful, she didn't know where the light came from, but it was only enough for her to not completely grope in the dark.

Raven squinted her eyes, trying to get a good look at her surroundings.

At the end of the corridor, she could vaguely make out a turning point in the path, and there was another route just behind the corner.

The dark girl didn't know where it would lead to nor what was awaiting her there, but she had no other choice but go for it now. Besides, no matter what lurking out there might turn out to be, it couldn't be worse than the frightening fate awaiting her if those men got their hands on her.

Pushing a lock of hair behind her ear, with determination dancing in her violet eyes like blazing flame, the dark girl took off running, slender fingers clutching the tablet she had just confiscated so tightly that her knuckle almost turned white.

oOo

Clifton Moore was a man of power in Jump.

Aside from the fact that his family has been running one of the most prosperous enterprises here for generations, and its branches has been spreading all over the city, even settling in some nearby metropolitans, he was a potential entrepreneur held in high regards by not only people around his age but also the seniors themselves. He was still in his early 20s, yet, in this city, nobody could claim to be from the upper class and had not heard of his name once. Even the heads of some illustrious families around here had to show him some respect.

Indeed, as someone born with a silver spoon in mouth, with high social position as well as the prosperity that few could possess even in their dream, he could have everything he desire without even trying. As long as he wanted, swimming in money, taking home all the luxurious and most exorbitant vehicles, or have all kinds of beautiful women lining up in front of him and ready to die for him would be within just a flick of fingers.

Yes, with his wealth, his status, his family reputation, his talents and good-looking features, even climbing to the moon wouldn't be impossible.

He was the man with great power here, and nobody had the nerves to cross him under any circumstance.

And yet, now, he was sprawling on the floor pathetically on four limbs, his crotch ached as if somebody had directly shoved a bee hive into it and let the aggressive bees roamed free, emptying their rage on it however they pleased. His proud, handsome face contorted in utter humiliation and a sea of wrath, as his once impeccable blonde hair was a mess on the ground. As he writhed in pain, each and every single strand had all fallen out of shape, getting dragged on the dust and grime coating the floor, ending up as filthy as a mopping rag itself.

Damn that whore! Damn that fucking, stupid, arrogant whore!

Clifton grunted and panted, trying to sit up again, only to give up and fell back onto the floor in defeat. The indescribable pain she caught to his precious male symbol still lingered, and only one little movement could send a sharp pang of agony through his lower part.

"I told you that we should leave that bitch in chain. But noooo! Spice thing up, you said. Let her struggle, you said. It would be fun taming her, you said. And now what? Is this enough spicing up for you? That little bitch got the better of us, and now she's freaking gone!"

"What? You're blaming this on us? You fucking agreed with that plan in the first place, Cal! And so what if she ran off? She was supposed to run! That's how we do things, remember?"

"Idiot! She's a fucking Titan! You think she will be the same as all the sluts we brought here earlier?"

"Enough!"

Clifton spat, struggling to get into a proper sitting position. He leaned his back against the wall, angrily wiping the locks of hairs shielding his vision off his face. The stinging pain had somewhat gone from his crotch now, and he could move around without the feeling of his sensitive place being ripped apart. Never, never in his life had he gone through this kind of humiliation. He was the one who stood above the rest, and now, he was forced to crawl on the filthy ground like some sort of animal, with his pretty face destroyed and his perfect image ruined.

All thanked to a certain little violet-haired bitch!

He swore, if he ever got his hands on her again, he would make her pay for all of this. He would make her beg for mercy, and he would make her cry until her voice completely died out!

The young billionaire eyed his companies, whose faces were flooded with apprehension and uncertainty, none had a slightest idea about what they needed to do next. Couldn't blame them though, they had got a hero on the loose to deal with here. Powerless or not, she was still somebody that could send the notorious villain down their bed shaking with one single glare. So, naturally, they would be nervous.

He was nervous too though. But the thought that she had left his pride in shards on this very filthy floor set him on a fire of pure fury, and it was burning all of his other feelings into nothing but ashes.

"For fuck's sake, stop getting your panties in a twist!" Clifton growled: "So what if she outsmarted us once? She has no power anymore, and she knows nothing about this place. Besides, she's in our domain now, she can't get out. Did you idiots forget that we're the only ones with the override codes?"

This seemed to remind his friends, and they regained a little bit composure as their features relaxed. This wasn't the first time they had had a woman trapped her and became their mean of recreation anyway, so after just a minute or two of letting Clifton's words sink in, they had already kicked all the fears and worries off their systems. He's right. Hero or not, she's just a helpless girl at their mercy now. Her quick thinking might be able to save her once, but again? Fat chance! After all, they had had her outnumbered 5 to 1.

"We built this hunting ground, we set up every path and every corner of it!" Clifton spat out, his face split into a twisted grin as his eyes darkened with all sorts of filthy emotions swimming in the depth of them: "She wouldn't be able to escape."

He slowly stood up, and motioning the others to head out of the room and searched for the escaped girl.

"None could get away before, and this time will be just the same."

oOo

_Stop. Don't breathe so hard. Don't make a sound._

That was what Raven had been muttering to herself, over and over until it seemed to have replaced her usual mantra. She was curling up in the hiding spot she came across along the way at the moment, with her knees close to her chest and her hands clutching the tablet right before her heart, resembling the posture of a fetus. Even through layers of clothes, she could still feel that her heart was pounding in her ribcage like thunder, as though it had fallen out of its holder and was now jumping frantically from place to place in her chest.

She bit her lips, the taste of salt entered her mouth. She was literally bathed in sweats from head to toes now, and the feeling of the prison uniform sticking to her skin while droplets after droplets of liquid running down her entire length was all but unpleasant. And just to make things worse, the orange material from which the clothes was made seemed to be water-proof, so the hot, sticky sweats had no way to infiltrate it, and was now forming a pool between her body and the clothes itself.

But she did her best to ignore her current state and remained in the same position. Only in here, they wouldn't be able to spot her.

Pushing a strand of violet hair behind her ears so that it would stop poking into her eyes and stung them with the salty sweats damping it, Raven kept her ears opened, trying to pick up any unusual sound. And her breath nearly frozen as her heart skipped a beat as the sound of footsteps as well as frustrating voice infiltrated her eardrums.

_Calm down. Just calm down. They won't be able to get you as long as you're here._

She kept telling herself that, still, it wasn't enough to stop her muscles from tensing up and her breath from stop shaking. Her heart was practically _screaming_ in her chest now, to the point that she was beginning to fear that it would give her location away and marked her doom.

The footsteps got closer, and closer. The voice was getting louder, and louder, and Raven could pick up traces of irritation and impatience lacing in each grunts and growls. They weren't happy upon her departure, not in the slightest. Her fingers dug into the metal frame of the tablet so hard that her nails started to ache.

Then, out of sudden, they stopped.

Right in front of where she lay hidden.

Raven swallow, hard. Butterflies began flapping their wings in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes grew to the size of tennis balls as her teeth sank into her lower lip.

She knew so well that it was impossible for them to figure out that she was here, but she couldn't stop the fear and worry from invading her mind.

Then, out of the blue, she heard voice. Loud and clear as daylight.

"Clifton, you're sure she's here, man. There just isn't any sign of her."

"She's a Titan, dumbass. You think she'd be so stupid and left her traces all over the place?"

Clifton?

Raven's brows knitted into a straight line. She knew this name, she had heard it somewhere before. A lot of times, actually. And… And that voice… It rang a bell too. The one that had just spoken, she knew him. He must be the one that she stole the tablet from, the only thug remained silent as they cornered her back there. This was why she didn't realize he was a familiar face in that very room.

But who could he be?

A villain holding a grudge against her?

Some sort of psychopath who had an unhealthy obsession with her?

Wait… Clifton?

Suddenly it all clicked into place, and Raven had to refrain herself from releasing a gasp out of shock as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks. That voice… Clifton… Clifton Moore… A young and respectful billionaire from a salient family in Jump. She had met him in person a few times before, back when she was forced to join some parties held by the mayor along with her team as they were the role models of the citizens and couldn't be absent from vital occasions.

How… how could it be him? Impossible, merely impossible…

The instinct of someone who always had to deal with mysteries kicked in, and all of the anxiety and fear rooting in her mind suddenly be flooded away by a strong wave of questions bursting into Raven's mind. It was like someone had just opened a door into her head and dumped them there. The dark girl took a deep breath, gathering her thought and did her best to rearrange them as an attempt to find the answers for the newfound information as well as this whole insane situation.

A seemingly elegant and polite gentleman turned out to be her crazy kidnapper who wanted to do unspeakable things to her? How could it be?

As the sorceress still busying digesting what she had just discovered, voices suddenly emitted again, right outside of her hiding place, disrupting her train of thought. Raven bit her tongue and hold her breath. The conversation outside, she needed to hear it. Everything was a mess right now, and she couldn't figure out anything at all. Perhaps whatever they said could give her a clue, letting her in on what the Hell was going on, and why she was locked here with a bunch of ill-minded maniacs.

Her expectations didn't fail her, and Raven's eyes nearly popped out of the sockets as the next words crawled into her ears.

"That little bitch, I bet she must be in a panic attack right now. Serve her right, always acts so high and mighty and looks down on all of us. Fuck, I wanna see her face when she finds out that we're behind everything so bad…"

It was like the sound of thunder striking down from above, piercing through her ears mercilessly.

So they were the cause behind her arrest? They were the ones that put her through all these miseries and pains right in the first place?

Fire of fury began burning in her vein, drowning her in unbearable wrath. At that moment, Raven yearned for nothing more than to springing up from her spot and strangle them one by one, satisfying her inner demons. But she knew that she couldn't, so she did her best to urge all of her muscles to stay still and avoid all the rash decision. She wasn't a fool. She was well aware that her power was gone now, and she didn't stand a single chance against a group of well-built men.

Raven took a deep breath, then repeated her mantra over and over in her head. She couldn't lose her self-control, this was the time that she needed it more than ever.

_Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos_

_Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos_

As her eyes reopened, the two violet orbs residing there again reflected nothing but utter calm and tranquility, just like her normal self, completely unfazed by any sort of chaos that might take place.

There was still a chance. She could take well use of this situation…

Raven's emotionless gaze fell on the tablet in her clutch.

There had to be one installed on it. Every modern device these day was paired with one right in the manufacture phrase

Her slender, pale fingers glided on the screen, until she reached the record application.

With determination dancing in her violet eyes, the girl licked her dry lips and pressed it.

oOo

Clifton took each step with caution, his eyes never stop darting around his surroundings as he tried his best to stay sharp. Despite talking big and being so full of himself, he was actually quite anxious about confronting a Titan head on, especially when he didn't know where she had run off to.

Fuck, only now did he start regretting the idea of making this whole place like a real hunting ground, lack of illumination and full with spots to hide. Even though that this kind of setting could double the fun and the thrill of chasing after the prey, it would only work if their target were normal, adequate, weak girls who was capable of nothing but sob their eyes out upon being taken to such a place. But a Titan? Not so likely.

Still, as he recalled the sight of her getting pushed into a corner, as she tried to stood her ground with her teeth gritted and her eyes shone like blazing flame, refusing to give up and subdue no matter what, excitement and eagerness began streaming within his vein, somewhat flooded away his apprehension. She was, indeed, a feisty one, a downright stubborn target that wouldn't go down without putting up a fight.

And… obviously, she was a_ delicious_ one too.

The prison uniform she had on was almost shapeless, but that didn't mean it managed to cover all her provocative curves. And as she walked, as she shifted around, as she made each movement, he could vaguely make out the enticing curves lay hidden underneath that annoying layer of clothes. Fuck! Those sweet curves, they were sending him on fire. Yeah… The body of someone who had just stepped through her teenage phrase, yet not mature enough to be called a woman… Like a fresh, juicy fruit just plucked from the branch… And the taste of that body, the taste of her, it would be heavenly. He was sure of that.

The hunger was getting harder to control, and Clifton couldn't help but fantasize the intimate moment going on between them as he finally caught her and ripped apart that hideous uniform, to finally feast his eyes on her innocent skin. He could already heard her scream for him… as he pushed her down… and slowly devoured her entirely…

His lips curved into a devious grin dripping with depravity, and a dark glint flashed across his eyes.

"Clifton, you're sure she's here, man. There just isn't any sign of her."

The voice of one of his companion emanated right from his left side, cutting his thought and ruining his sweet fantasy. Irritated, he turned to the young guy with a nervous expression spread on his decent-looking face, and coldly spat:

"She's a Titan, dumbass. You think she'd be so stupid and left her traces all over the place?"

For as long as they held this… annual cat-and-mouse game, these guys had been participating with him all along. A group of young billionaires from wealthy families hanging out with each other, all had a life immersed in so much fortune that they could practically have everything they wanted.

But then, you got the idea, gradually, their days began getting tedious. They never had to even try to achieve anything because all they needed were at their fingertips all along. So, they started seeking out new mean of entertainment as an attempt to stir up their seemingly monotonous life.

That was how this hunting trip came into existence.

At first, they just wanted to experience some thrill. Chasing some women around a place, cornering them, pushing them down onto the ground and fucking their brains out. That was just a game initially, and the ladies joined the game voluntarily as well.

Still, as days went by, such an orchestrating thing wasn't enough to satisfy them anymore. They wanted something more tempting, more dangerous, more engrossing, something that can send adrenaline running along their vein and filled their mind with utter intoxication.

So they lured a random girl here, with their reputation and appearance, it wasn't hard to find one, and forced her to join their sick game.

Then they realized that they had grown addicted to the sensations it brought.

So, in order not to provoke any suspicion, they had come to an agreement that only one hunt would be held each year. Just one girl each year, nothing more. It was quite easy to cover thing up, after all, they were all from Jump's most powerful and wealthiest families.

Still, as time flew by, they had lost interest in adequate women that could do nothing more than begging and crying and would end up getting found after 20 minutes at most. As a result, when an acquaintance of them called and asked them whether they wanted to have a Titan as their plaything or not, without hesitation, they agreed in a split second.

As a measure of caution, they had made up their mind that they wouldn't let her run off. But eventually, she did, and now, they were back where they were every time they joined a hunt: making their way through the dimly illuminated hallways, keeping an eye out for any sudden movement in the dark.

Needless to say, unlike the previous times, none of them could be at ease right now. Powerless or not, that girl was still a hero capable of kicking their ass in a fight. They couldn't be careless.

"That little bitch, I bet she must be in a panic attack right now. Serve her right, always acts so high and mighty and looks down on all of us. Fuck, I wanna see her face when she finds out that we're behind everything so bad…"

Another young man who was just a few inches behind Clifton chuckled, voice dripping with amusement. His eyes were shielded behind the glasses-like mask, but his hair, which was gelled into a strange shaped and dyed in a vibrant shade of green, the swaggering tone lingered in his voice as well as the way he kept prancing around were enough to tell a thing or two about his personality.

"Keep your voice down, Chaz! What if she hears us?"

Another man, with not-so-dazzling appearance elbowed him right in the forearm, signaling him to stay quiet. But Chaz wasn't one to follow order, he just let out a tsk sound, before picking up where he left:

"What? You really think she can put us behind bars now, Cole? Are you dumb or what? She's just a helpless chick running around blindly in the dark now. She can't get out! None could get out before, remember?"

"I know, I just think that…"

"Bla, bla, bla, I don't wanna hear it, OK?" Chaz intervened, chiding the other man as though he's all but a young child: "Jeez, Cole, will you just knock it off? Always "But we can get caught this" and "What if they find us" that. Look, we've been doing this like, I don't know, 6 years! That meant 6 whores went missing out there. And did anyone notice anything? No! So stop being a pussy, for Fuck's sake!"

"He's right." Clifton suddenly intervened, as though having grown sick and tired of his friends bickering around: "Besides, everybody believes that Titan bitch is guilty, even her stupid teammates. He wants us to take her out, so as long as we keep her here, nobody will suspect a single thing."

He paused for a while, before letting a twisted grin lit his face as his eyes were immersed in pure darkness:

"Just in time he needed to take care of some trash anyway. You think where did those corpses come from, huh? If this ever gets out, even he'll fall along with us. So don't worry, if we don't mess up, he'll make sure that all of this stay in the dark forever."

He went on and on with his reasons, as if trying to reassure his group that nothing dangerous would befall them, and they should all just cast aside all their worries and enjoy the fun like always.

Unbeknown to him, not far from where they were, a petite girl was curling up like a ball in her hiding spot, shaky fingers clutching the metallic tablet as her face turned birch white and her violet eyes reflected nothing but pure horror…

"Hey… Clifton. I remember that door was locked the last time we came here, right?"

**Author's note:** Yayyy, another chapter is done! Sorry for the long wait, guys, I have been pretty busy lately. You know, university life, not easy at all. But rest assured that I will not abandon the story if there're still people reading it.

Still, the next update might be a bit long as I haven't even thought about what to do with the next chapter yet :P. Do you want to read some more about Raven, or you want evil Robin to be on the stage?


	6. Chapter 6

NOT AN UPDATE!

Hi guys, long time no see. Before any of you bother to ask, no, I'm not dead, and Corona has not taken me down. I'm still in pretty good health, thank you very much!

I'm still working on this fic, so rest assured that no abandonment is gonna come swinging its scythe and drag the story to the forgotten land, at least not for the time being. It's just that I have been rereading it, and I realized that Oh my fucking God, there was a shitload of mistakes there. The shitty grammar aside, my writing back there wasn't all that good either. And in my head I have got another direction that I wanted the story to flow to. So… yeah, I'm gonna reconstruct it, and maybe make it a bit darker while I'm at it. I have always wanted to see how far I can go in fucking up a kid show, so let's all grab a shovel and dig a good 6-feet grave for our childhood. Mine is already there so see ya around!

The first new chapter will come by the end of the week I think, and the others will be taken down for revamp. It might take a while for the fic to actually catch up with the last updated chapter, but please be patient with me.

Until then!

*still open for ideas*


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